


The Cancer

by Derin



Series: Parting the Clouds [24]
Category: Animorphs (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 20:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Derin/pseuds/Derin
Summary: Somebody knows about yeerks. Somebody on the internet.The Animorphs aren't sure if they've found allies, enemies, or victims that they need to save, and they need to find out. But solving this mystery will reveal a bigger secret than they expected, and throw them into their biggest ethical dilemma yet...Thanks to Redtailedhawk90 and Liz for their excellent beta work.





	1. Chapter 1

<Show me a sun,> _ethil_ Aximili commanded.

I made the appropriate andalite hand gesture. It was a simple one; three fingers on one hand.

<Show me ‘the sun is golden.’>

I did.

<‘The golden sun rises over the horizon.’ No, no; you do not need so many gestures. You are structuring your sentences like a human; you can – yes, that is right. The action of rising is a quality possessed by the sun, not a separate thing. ‘The golden sun rises over the wide river.’ Again, but with the sun sparkling on the river. Again, but there is no sparkle as the water is still. Again, but with the sparkling a quality of the river, not of the sun. Again; this time the river is your river and you know it intimately. Now it is a strange river with no personal relationship to you.>

I signed. I didn’t have enough fingers, and they didn’t move right, but I approximated the signs as best I could. My hands began to cramp up before _ethil_ Aximili was satisfied.

<Good,> he said finally. <Very good.> Pride rang strongly in the message, settling into my mind and feeling almost like my own emotion. I smiled.

<You are ready for the next step,> my _ethil_ said.

“I am? But I know how to say hardly anything. My vocabulary – ”

<Does not matter. Any andalite you will speak to will have a translator chip. You have a firm grasp of the fundamental concepts. You are ready.>

I nodded. I wasn’t sure I agreed, but it didn’t seem appropriate for the student to question this sort of thing.

<You will need to morph. We are going to attempt andalite thought-speak.>

I tried not to look undignifyingly excited as I morphed Rachel. It was probably the fastest I’d ever morphed outside of combat.

<Okay,> Ax said. <I am going to say ‘sun’, and I want you to repeat me. Pay attention.>

He made the gesture for ‘sun’, and at the same time, the concept of a sun rang in my brain in Ax’s thought-speak voice. It was unnerving, firstly because it had been a fairly long time since I’d heard Ax talk in concepts (he had picked up more English-like methods of thought-speak from us shortly after we met him), and secondly because I’d never heard any andalite transmit a concept so pure and vague. Ax wasn’t talking about the sun. He wasn’t even talking about his sun. He was giving me the essential concept of a sun; a star, any star, up close.

I tried to replicate the concept and send it back. I didn’t succeed.

<Not a bad first try,> Ax said. <Focus on the hand gesture. It’s the same thing, in your mind.>

“The hand gesture’s just a word,” I said. “It’s in another language, but a word is a word. What you sent me… isn’t.”

<The hand gesture is not a word in its own right. It is a base. I just watched you use and alter it to fit multiple derivative concepts. That is what you want to do with your mind; send the base, before it is defined into something more concrete. This is not a human language; the meaning is not derived from the words. The words are derived from the meaning.>

I stared at my hands and signed ‘sun’ a few times. I gathered my thoughts and tried to envision a concept of ‘sun’ with nothing more specific attached to it, not even a name. When I thought I had it, I told Ax.

<That is a little closer,> he said.

“But still not right.”

<You are learning an entirely new way of thinking. It will take time.>

I nodded. But I wasn’t convinced. The way I thought depended on the structure of my human brain. I wasn’t sure whether it was possible to properly think like an andalite; not without getting trapped in an andalite morph.

<Hey guys!>

I looked up. A golden eagle soared above us. He dropped to land heavily on a branch above Ax’s scoop.

“Hi, David,” I said.

<Hello, David.>

David’s fierce eyes searched me. <Looking good, Rachel. Is that a new leotard?>

<It’s me,> I told him.

<Cassie? Why are you – >

“It’s a long story,” I said. “What’s up.”

<Have you guys got a computer with internet?>

“A computer?”

<Yeah! Man, you’re gonna freak when I show you this.>


	2. Chapter 2

We gathered at Marco’s place. His dad had the best computer, and was out working late at the observatory. He’d been working late a lot, and when he wasn’t working he was going out to dinner with his girlfriend, so Marco had free reign of the house a lot of the time. The seven of us, all in human bodies, were a pretty tight fit in the computer room. We all waited patiently while Marco powered on the computer, signed on, and sat back while it gave that awful screech that computers make when you connect to the internet.

“So the yeerks are on the internet?” Marco asked, frowning at David. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. You guys gotta see this. How is the internet not the first thing you checked? Everything gets on the internet!”

“How were you on the internet?” Jake asked. “Somehow I don’t think Jara exactly has it in the valley.”

“Is that really what’s important right now? Just type in ‘yeerk’. Yeah, just the one word.”

Marco searched for ‘yeerk’.

One result.

He clicked on it.

The page that came up was dark, with a bright yellow headline taking up most of the screen.

THIS PAGE IS DEVOTED TO LETTING THE WORLD KNOW ABOUT THE YEERK THREAT! THIS IS NOT A JOKE. THIS IS NOT THE USUAL INTERNET NONSENSE. THIS IS SERIOUS. THIS IS DEADLY SERIOUS.

Beneath the heading were four icons. ‘Facts about Yeerks.’ ‘Types of Yeerks.’ ‘Suspected human Yeerks.’ ‘Chat about Yeerks.’

“Whoah,” I said.

“Whoah,” Tobias agreed. “Have you checked these out, David?”

He nodded. “Some of it looks real and some of it looks fake. But I can’t tell, I don’t know enough about all these aliens yet.”

Marco clicked on ‘Facts about Yeerks’.

“Wait, wait,” Rachel said. “If your dad comes home and uses the computer, will he see that we’ve been on this page?”

Marco shook his head. “I disabled my cookies. Besides, I go on a bunch of conspiracy websites all the time. This wouldn’t stand out even if he could see.”

“You go on conspiracy websites and you never looked for the actual alien invasion?” David asked.

“What do you mean, disabled your cookies?” I asked. “What do cookies have to do with anything?”

“They’re a thing that tracks what websites you’ve been on,” Marco said.

“Cookies? Really?”

“I didn’t invent the word,” Marco said with a shrug.

“They mention that yeerks have to leave their hosts once every three days,” Tobias said, “but don’t use the word ‘Kandrona’ anywhere.”

“Look, a map,” David said, tapping a picture of the night sky on the screen with YEERK HOME STAR and an arrow crudely pasted over the top. “Is it right?”

“It is not,” Ax said.

“Are we on it?” Rachel asked.

“I hope not,” I said. “The last thing we want is normal humans out looking for us, like we don’t have enough on our plates.”

“No mention of andalite bandits,” Marco said, scrolling down. “Nothing about andalites at all.”

“Check ‘types of yeerks’,” Jake said.

Marco did. “Look here.” He tapped at an image on the screen. “Hork-bajir.”

“I think you’re right,” Rachel said, squinting. “It’s a really bad drawing, but it can hardly be anything else.”

The other drawings appeared jerkily on the screen. One looked like a standard, Close Encounters of the Third Kind type of alien. The other two looked like a Cardassian from Deep Space Nine and a Narn from Babylon Five. (I took a moment to feel ashamed of myself for having spent enough time with Jake and Marco to have no trouble recognising them.)

"Someone's been watching too much TV," Marco said with a derisive laugh.

"Ax, have you ever seen any real aliens that look like those?" Jake asked.

"Like that one, yes." He pointed at the fetal-looking Close Encounters alien. "It is similar to the mature phase of a species called Skrit Na. The Skrit, the immature phase, is like a giant cockroach. This could be a Na. Only Na usually walk on all fours like sensible creatures. Rea-tures. Cuh-reee-chers. My brother, Elfangor, once had some big adventure involving Skrit Na. But he never told me much about it. The other species are all unknown to me."

“There’s Visser Three!” I gasped, pointing as a picture that was just loading. A sketch of what was unmistakably an andalite was labelled YEERK LEADER. There was nothing about taxxons.

“So what does this tell us?” Tobias asked.

“They have some genuine information,” Rachel said with a shrug. “But unless they magically know more than Ax, a lot of junk is in there, too. That’s the internet for you, I guess.”

“Suspected human yeerks,” Jake commanded.

We looked.

“Chapman’s there,” Rachel said, pointing.

“So’s the President,” David pointed out, “and we know they don’t have him because of that whole trap thing last week.”

I scanned the list. A couple of them were familiar from Tobias’ work. Most of them I didn’t recognise. There were several famous people on the list, which seemed unlikely.

“Trap?” Marco asked.

“I don’t see how it can be a trap,” Rachel said. “I don’t think the yeerks are expecting the andalite bandits to suddenly take to searching the human internet, and there’s no way they’d think we’d be dumb enough to identify ourselves on it.”

I nodded. “I think some random innocent person overheard a controller talking about sensitive information, and put it on the internet, where a bunch of other innocent, suspicious humans added their own thoughts. And some of those people were wackos.”

“Click ‘chat about yeerks’,” Jake said.

Marco did. A chat room opened.

The seven of us watched, fascinated, as the conversation went scrolling down the screen. A conversation about things we thought only we knew about.

YeerKiller9: There's no way!  
GoVikes: You have to chop them up to be sure they're really dead.  
Chazz: Why don't we get serious here? The Yeerks are only getting stronger. And instead of using this Chat to plan some action, we end up doing nothing.  
YeerKiller9: Listen to me, I was infested by a Yeerk. It was only by a miracle I escaped.  
YrkH8er: Kill all Yeerks!  
Gump8293: I think my dad is one. What can I do? I mean it's weird because my dad actually seems nice in some ways. But he is too nice. He's got all these new friends suddenly and he's with them all the time. The other day I heard my dad and these new friends whispering about someone called "Visher" or "Vister" or something.  
GoVikes: Yeerks are like worms. If you just cut them in half they just grow again.  
YrkH8er: Kill all Yeerks!  
CKDsweet: Can anyone help me? There's this organization called The Sharing, and I think they are all Yeerks.  
YrkH8er: The Sharing is okay. I checked them out.  
Chazz: Wrong. The Sharing is a Yeerk front organization.  
YerkH8er: No way. They're like Boy Scouts.  
Carlito: I've discovered that Yeerks need to go someplace secret and feed or replenish. Every three days. I think they get out of their host body to do this.  
GoVikes: They're like snails, only without a shell.  
MegMom: Gump, I think it's "Visser." I think a Visser is like a general or something. I think Visser is a rank.  
GoVikes: Rank. LOL. Totally rank.  
Gump8293: Isn't there any way for me to get my dad to stop being a Yeerk?  
YrkH8er: Kill all Yeerks!  
YrkH8er: Talk to your dad. Tell him what you think.  
Chazz: NO Gump. Say NOTHING to your father. If you say anything you'll be next.  
MegMom: Gump, listen to Chazz. He's right. You can't do anything to save your father. All you can do is get hurt.  
Fitey777: Hi everyone. I have a name to add to the list of known Yeerks.  
Gump8293: I have to DO something.  
YrkH8er: Kill all Yeerks!  
Chazz: Hello Fitey.  
MegMom: Good, Fitey's here.  
Fitey777: Charles J. Sofor. He's the deputy police chief in the capital. I am close to getting the location of a Yeerk feeding area.  
GoVikes: Chop him up in little pieces.

We all stared for a little while.

“Okay,” Jake said, “so what are we going to do with this information?”

“Uh, find them all and tell them all about yeerks?” David suggested. “Let them protect themselves. Let everyone know what’s going on.”

“It’s not that simple,” Tobias said. “We can’t risk open war with the Yeerk Empire. If this becomes an open invasion, the planet is doomed. We can’t stand up against that.”

David rolled his eyes.

“I hate to say it,” Rachel said, “but isn’t this exactly the sort of mission that the Star Defenders should be dealing with? Secretly informing people while we do the fighting?”

“You want me to drop by Melissa’s tonight and tip her off?” Tobias asked.

“Who’s Melissa?” David asked.

“Hang on,” Marco said. “We’re not sure how safe this is.”

Rachel nodded. “We can’t let Melissa get caught.”

“Who is – ?”

“YrkH8er is definitely a controller,” Marco said.

“He might just be mistaken about the Sharing,” I shrugged.

“He’s trying to goad Gump into confronting his controller father.”

I nodded. “And Gump is clearly innocent. We have to find and save him before he makes a big mistake and gets caught.” Gump had to be a little kid. I couldn’t let a little kid get caught by the yeerks for the crime of loving his father.

“Don’t we have bigger priorities here?” David asked.

“If his dad is dealing with the Visser, he’s local,” I said. “It wouldn’t take long.”

“Fitey’s an idiot,” Marco said, “but I think he’s for real. Probably Meg and Carlitto too.”

“YeerkKiller9?” Tobias asked.

Marco shrugged. “Could go either way.”

“Okay,” Jake said. “We need to find out just what’s going on here. Ax, is there a way to… track down where these people are all dialing in from, or something?”

“Possibly, Prince Jake. Poss-sib-blee. I am not-tuh an expert-tuh in ancient forms of computing technology, but I will try.” He took Marco’s place in front of the computer and rested his fingers on the unfamiliar keys. “What is ‘Caps Lock’?”

“Forget Caps Lock,” Jake said.

“Yes, Prince Jake.” He opened some kind of new screen I’d never seen before on the computer and started typing hesitantly. After a minute or so he stopped, clicking his tongue in frustration.

“Problems?” Jake asked.

He spread his hands helplessly. “The system architecture… teck-churrr… is nothing like anything I have experience with. I do not know how to find the right information.”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “What’s this? A superior andalite can’t hack into the Web Access America computer?” he mocked.

“Can you?” Ax asked mildly.

That shut him up.

“So it’s hopeless?” Jake asked.

“No.” Ax typed some more, frowning. “This is… unusual.”

“What is?” I asked.

“Your computing technology. Or might I say, it is… usual. I noticed it the last time I used a program on this computer. The proto-colll-suh you use are… closer to andalite systems than most alien computers are. In most alien systems I would be completely lost, but this makes at least some sense.”

“So you can figure it out?” Jake asked.

“I do not know. Possibly. But not from this terminal. I would have to have access to a more central system.”

“A more central system?” I asked.

“So we’re busting into Web Access America?” Rachel asked, grinning.

“Yeah!” Marco added. “Invade Web Access America! Bust into their main computers. Get those addresses. And while we’re at it, turn off that annoying program that keeps offering you a WAA Visa card.”

“Question,” Tobias interjected. “Where, exactly, are the Web Access America main computers?”

“About two hundred miles away,” David said.

We stared at him.

“That’s a potential problem,” I said.

“How do you even know that?” Marco asked.

He shrugged. “My dad worked there once.”

“So I guess we’re hiding out on a plane, again,” I sighed.

Jake fixed me with a joking glare. “This time, nobody is allowed to nearly die while stranded alone in Australia.”

“Just what kind of missions did I miss out on by being so late to the party?” David asked.

Ax was already looking at airline schedules. “If we leave at six o’clock tomorrow night,” he said, “There is a return flight at six o’clock the next morning that arrives in time for you all to get to school.”

“Looking forward to that school day after an all-night mission,” Marco groaned.

Rachel punched his shoulder. “Baby. I know you’ve stayed up all night playing Doom before.”

“That’s different. Doom is restful.”

Tobias spoke up. “Maybe just Ax, David and I should – ”

“No,” Jake said. “I’m not letting the three of you get stranded in another state without backup. We go out as a group, get those names, and get everyone home safe. Somebody go find out if Erek has a few spare friends who can help us out for one night.”

“I’m on it,” Tobias said, demorphing.

“Ask him how Jenny is doing,” I added.

“Will do.”

I went home, too. If I was going to be gone the next night, I’d have to do some of tomorrow’s chores early. Things like animal medications couldn’t really be done in advance, but some of the cleaning could. This was a very important mission; I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way. I didn’t really care if a bunch of conspiracy theorists wanted to talk about yeerks and pretend the President was an alien or whatever.

But if Gump might be getting ready to confront his Controller father, I had to find out where he was so that I could stop it.


	3. Chapter 3

“United or Northwest?” Jake asked, scanning the departures board. There we were, six kids and an old man, hanging around an airport terminal in spandex with no luggage. Not weird at all.

“Which leaves first?” David asked, nervously scratching his bald head. “I want to get out of here. Being another person is so weird.”

“You think this is weird, wait until you’re a fly,” Marco said. “It’s the perfect mixture of awesome and disgusting.”

“The united flight departs and arrives twenty five of your Earth minutes earlier than the Northwest flight,” Ax said, pointing to the board.

“Everyone’s minutes,” Marco mumbled.

“So we have fifteen of our Earth minutes to get aboard, then a ninety minute flight, then disembarking,” Tobias said. “It’ll be tight.”

“We can remorph in the bathroom if we have to,” Jake said. “It’s gate 19. Let’s just morph and get aboard.”

“How?” David asked. “Do flies have good enough eyes to find the right gate?”

A general pause. I exchanged a glance with Jake. The sensible thing to do would’ve been to ask Erek for help. He could have carried us right to the terminal gate under his hologram, then walked out of the airport while we followed the passengers on board as flies. But Jake was still trying to keep the chee, the Star Defenders, and everyone else as far away from David as the circumstances allowed. Had the chee even been told about David? They’d have to know, right? The yeerks knew, so Erek must know.

The whole thing struck me as a bad idea. David hated being sidelined and left out of things. Was Jake planning on keeping the chee secret for the whole war? He’d find out eventually. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

But I hadn’t brought it up, either. Jake hadn’t straight-up told anyone to keep secrets from David. We were all just kind of doing it. I could open my mouth right now and say, ‘Hey, what about the chee?’ and David would ask ‘The what?’ and I could tell him.

But I didn’t.

Because I couldn’t help but think that David was… well, not the most ruthless or gung-ho among us, not really. Rachel had been far more aggressive in the past than David was being, and Marco could put results ahead of people’s rights and feelings in a second. Maybe David just stood out to me because I wasn’t used to him yet, but I couldn’t help but think about our last battle, where he’d leapt in to defend the team and torn a hork-bajir throat out with absolutely no hesitation.

How long had it taken any of us to resort to deliberately killing someone? Longer than two days. A lot longer. And it didn’t seem to bother him, really.

Maybe that wasn’t fair. We could all kill without hesitation now. I could hardly be annoyed at David for not keeping up in one respect, and keeping up too well in another. Still, when it came to our defenceless robot friends, I could understand Jake’s caution.

Even if it meant making our mission way harder than it needed to be.

"Fly vision is pretty bad, actually," Jake admitted. "Compound eyes."

"The sense of smell is good, though," Marco said. "I mean, flies can sense poop or garbage from a long way off."

Jake and Marco looked at each other.

"Oh, puh-leeze," Marco said. "Where would we find it? And what would we do with it? Hand it to the flight attendant at the gate? Tell him, 'Hang onto this for us. We'll be right back as flies'?"

At a nearby gate, people were disembarking from their flight. The people all looked tired and annoyed. Some smiled for the relatives and friends who were picking them up. But I guess it must have been a long flight, because some of the people had pressure marks on the sides of their faces. You know, like they'd been sleeping with their heads leaned against the windows of the plane.

Then there was the mother and father with their baby. The baby was squalling and squirming in its mother's arms. They stopped just a few feet away.

"He needs to be changed," the mother said.

"Whose turn is it?" the father asked.

The mother handed the baby to him and he groaned. "Please let it just be number one."

"I don't think so," the mother said. "I think you're getting a full load."

The father headed for the men’s toilets. The boys all looked at each other.

A few games of rock-paper-scissors later, Jake cursed quietly under his breath.

“You all cheated,” he said.

“It’s for the war effort, Jake,” Marco said. “Make your loyal soldiers proud. Go get that dirty diaper.”

“Does this sort of thing come up a lot in alien-fighting work?” David asked quietly.

“A lot? No,” Tobias replied. “More than we would like? Yes.”

Jake returned a few minutes later with a diaper wrapped in paper towels. He handed it to Marco. “Your turn.”

We watched Marco stroll over to gate 19, shove the diaper into an ashtray, and stroll back. Rachel and I headed for the women’s bathroom, leaving the five male Animorphs to figure out how to morph in limited stalls in a busy airport. (Sometimes it saddens me that there are only two girls on our team. This was not one of those times.)

Fly morph is pretty disgusting, but it wasn’t anything dramatic. I’d done it dozens of times before, and insects weren’t that much more alien than some of the actual aliens I’d morphed. We’d come in our morphing outfits, figuring that looking weird wandering around in spandex was less important than losing yet more clothes in the bathrooms, so all we had to do was find a nearby bathroom that didn’t have a line (this was the hard part), morph, and zoom right on out. We’d paid attention to where we were in relation to the gate before morphing, so we were able to get close enough to gate 19 to smell the delicious scent of the fresh diaper relatively easily.

<Okay, this is cool,> David said as the boys flew over. <Once you get past the fact that your own body makes you want to throw up.>

<That’s how Marco feels in his human body,> Rachel said.

<Oooh, don’t hurt me with the chakram of your wit, Xena,> Marco said.

<Huh?>

<Chakram. It’s the metal frisbee thing that Xena throws. What, are you people cultural morons?>

<Isn’t Xena that dumb girly thing with the lesbians?> David asked. <Like the grown-up version of that She-Ra cartoon?>

<Hey, man,> Marco said. <No dissing Xena. Xena kicks butt.>

<We should probably be boarding the plane,> I pointed out. People were lining up and getting their tickets out.

<Okay,> Jake said. <Remember, there’s going to be a lot of swat-happy hands in there. Listen to your instincts; if something comes at you, get out of the way. Don’t take stupid risks.>

<Are you okay?> I asked Jake privately as we flew on board.

<Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?>

<You’ve just been kind of stressed since we got here. You’re not afraid of flights, are you?>

<No. I mean, even if we crashed, what’s going to happen to a bunch of flies? You’re not scared, are you?>

<Me? No.>

<Even after the last time you got on a plane?>

Oh. That’s what was bothering him.

<Jake, that was a secret plane full of yeerks. They were paranoid about being followed and fumigated it. This is just a normal flight, full of normal people, and the yeerks have no reason to think we’d be on it. It’s as safe as a room on the ground is, and we’re all getting on the same flight – there’s simply no way for us to get separated this time.>

<Right. Good. We’re all good, then.>

I couldn’t help but notice that Jake stayed pretty close to me as we settled under a seat.

<I’m going to check out first class,> Marco said.

<Do not go to first class,> Jake warned. <They’ll be doubly sensitive about flies there.>

<Aww, man,> David whined. <We’re risking our butts to protect humankind here, and we have to ride coach?>

<Exactly! See? He gets it!> Marco said. <Being a superhero should be way more glamorous than this!>

<What would you even do in first class that you can’t do in coach, Marco?> Rachel asked. <Try to eat someone’s salisbury steak?>

<Like you don’t want to know what diane sauce tastes like to a fly.>

<I promise you, I have never wondered that in my entire life.>

<Liar.>

I tried not to panic as I realised that we were going to have to listen to this conversation for ninety minutes.

<I’m going to make sure of the bathroom’s location in case we have to demorph in a hurry,> I said, taking off.

<Me, too,> Tobias said.

We flew under the seats to the back of the plane. This did not actually help anything, as we were still well within Rachel and Marco’s thought-speak range. Jake hopped after me for a few inches, looking like he wanted to follow, but apparently decided against crowding me.

<He’s still upset about Australia, isn’t he?> Tobias asked me privately.

<It’s not like I did it on purpose,> I responded.

<I know. You know what Jake’s like. And things have been pretty hectic lately, after Aftran and then that Australia thing and David showing up and now this chat room...>

<It’s all kind of getting out of hand, isn’t it?> I said. <There’s only so much we can deal with at once. And we have the morphing cube now, too. Nobody seems to be talking about that. Are we just supposed to pretend it’s not there? It’s the most powerful weapon on the planet.>

<The most powerful one we have access to, at least,> Tobias countered. <I bet the yeerks have some pretty nasty weapons we haven’t seen.>

<Thanks for that optimism.>

The conversation petered out, and we settled in for the long trip. We stayed out of sight for awhile, demorphing in the bathroom about an hour into the journey in case there were delays getting off the plane, and sometime later, the plane started to descend. All in all, the flight was pretty uneventful.

Until the screaming started.


	4. Chapter 4

<JAKE!> Rachel screamed. Rachel _never_ screamed.

<What happened?!> I asked, darting back towards where we’d left the others.

<What the hell, dude, that just… that came out of nowhere!> David exclaimed, clearly shaken.

<Jake,> Marco said. <You have to demorph. Now.>

<What happened?!> I asked again.

<Prince Jake has been swatted,> Ax reported in the detached tone he used when terrified. <His physical integrity has been severely compromised.>

<His guts are everywhere,> David muttered. <Oh my god, they’re everywhere.>

I spotted them; four flies on the ceiling, surrounding the crushed remains of what used to be a fifth.

<Jake!> I screamed. <Jake, can you hear me? Demorph! You HAVE to demorph!>

<Cassie?> Jake’s voice said, muzzily.

<Demorph! Think about being human! You remember being human?>

<If he demorphs here, this whole plane will see him,> Tobias said. <We have to assume there are probably at least some Controllers aboard.>

<So what?> I snapped. <We deal with that later! We get out of here and get our families out before the yeerks get there. Jake’s more important.>

<Oh, man, Tobias is right,> Marco said. <We’re ninety minutes from home. Everyone we know would be taken before we got back.>

<So you’re just going to let him die?!>

<Don’t be an idiot, Cassie! I’m saying we have to find some way to somehow not make anyone notice! Jake, are you demorphing? You need to be demorphing.>

<This is nuts, man, this is all nuts,> David mumbled.

<Shut up and grab a leg,> Marco snapped. <We’ll take him to the bathroom.>

<That’s way too far,> Rachel said, picking up a leg of her own. <He won’t stay in one piece that long.>

<Oh god, my leg just came off,> David gasped.

<Then grab some of his body, and be careful.>

I lifted Jake’s head. Together, we peeled him off the ceiling. It wasn’t easy; his drying guts had stuck him down pretty well. We lost a wing and quite a bit of carapace in the attempt.

<Do we… do we scoop the guts back in, or…?> I asked.

<No time,> Tobias said. <Look, that moron is opening a baggage compartment early!>

We tottered towards the open overhead baggage compartment, dragging as much of Jake with us as we could.

<Jake,> I said privately, <are you still there? Please, please tell me you’re still there.>

<Everyone stop yelling in my head!> Jake moaned.

<Demorph!>

<I am!>

Was he? Was the carapace softening in my grip? Had his middle legs sucked into his body, or had we lost them on the journey? It was hard to tell.

“Sir!” a flight attendant called. “Sir, please close the luggage compartment and remain seated while we descend!”

“Okay, lady, jeez,” the man with the open compartment replied.

We were running out of time. With all of the strength in our tiny fly bodies, we tossed Jake at the compartment just as the man slammed it closed. _Please_ , I thought, _please don’t be crushed in the door or something_.

<Jake,> I said urgently, <are you – ? >

<Quiet,> he mumbled. <I have to… um. It’s dark.>

<Don’t worry about that!> Rachel snapped. <Think human! Human!>

After several tense moments, there was the sound of something shifting around in the luggage compartment. I relaxed.

“Was that turbulence?” somebody muttered. “Did anyone feel that?”

Something in the compartment thumped. Several people jumped and looked up.

“If my stuff is broken, I’m suing this airline,” an old man announced.

We landed. As soon as the seatbelt light went off, the old man jumped up and opened the compartment… but aside from a lot of moved-around luggage, there was nothing in there.

Passengers began the slow process of collecting their bags and filing off the plane. Jake filed out of the bathroom in his human body (I didn’t ask how he’d gotten in there) and calmly walked off the plane with everyone else. He got a couple of weird looks, but nobody questioned the shoeless, spandex-clad boy filing into the airport. Everyone just wanted to go off to their own destinations.

The rest of us Animorphs headed immediately for a bathroom to demorph in. We couldn’t read the signs, so we all just crammed into the nearest one, which turned out to be a men’s room. Ax had to wait for the rest of us to finish and get out, or there wouldn’t be room.

We filed out to see Jake sitting in a plastic chair against a wall, pale and shocked-looking. David took one look at him, went green, and dashed right back into the bathroom, presumably to throw up. I glanced from Jake to the bathroom door. Tobias and Ax were still in there with David.

I headed for Jake.

I put an arm around his shoulders. He was shaking. He blinked, and looked at me as if he’d only just realised I was there.

“That was pretty bad,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “It wasn’t great. Something to leave out of the interviews when we’re all rich and famous.”

I nodded. “We have ten hours for our mission,” I said. “Plenty of time. We can sit and rest for a while.”

Jake swallowed. His hands were balled into fists so tight that his knuckles were white. “I’m okay, Cassie.”

“It’s okay to be afraid, you know. That was terrifying enough for us. For you it must’ve been practically impossible.”

He offered me a weak smile. “Couldn’t have been impossible. I did it.” He stood up, shakily. “Come on, we have to break into an office building. You say we have twelve hours, but people are going to get pretty tired overnight. I’d rather do this while we’re sharp.”

We headed out of the airport. We didn’t really have a way to buy clothes or sneakers or anything, so we just kind of had to wander around in our morphing outfits. We were used to it. You’d be amazed how little foot protection matters when you have the ability to heal any injury. The chill night air was just something we’d have to deal with.

Ax morphed owl and took to the sky with Tobias while the rest of us trudged the eight blocks to the Web Access America offices. None of us felt like morphing again until we absolutely had to. Even David kept his normal face. We didn’t bug him about it; there was no reason that anyone in this city would recognise him, especially in the dark.

The nighttime security wasn’t all that complicated. It was an office building; who was going to break in? Some junkie looking for computers to sell, maybe?

Tobias and Ax morphed human – mostly human. They morphed animal features into their faces to avoid their human morphs being recognised by the security cameras. The rest of us did the same – on the footage, we should look like we were wearing ugly halloween masks. Even David managed to cover his face in eagle feathers, and I’d only been giving him morphing lessons for a few days.

David neatly bypassed the alarm and let us in. There was one security guard, and he was watching TV, half-asleep. We tiptoed past him.

“Where do we need to go, Ax?” Jake whispered. “Is there a particular computer you need?”

<I do not know. Any computer that can be used to maintenance of the network should probably be acceptable.>

We wandered around until we found a large room full of computer terminals. It was open, full of rows of desks, with big glass windows. All very fancy to work in, not so great if you were trying to sneak through it.

There was a poster of a middle-aged, grinning man on the wall. Marco bowed elaborately to it.

“Can you be serious for one mission?” Rachel hissed.

“Hey, do you know who that is?” Marco hissed back. “That’s Jo-Bob Fenestre. THE Joe-Bob Fenestre. Founder of Web Access America.”

“That’s the most hillbilly name I’ve ever heard,” Rachel said.

“Careful,” said Jake. “Marco is a huge Joe-Bob fan.”

“I didn’t know you cared that much about computers,” I remarked. “I mean, playing games on them, sure, but – ”

“Computers?” Marco asked. “Who cares about computers?”

“Then why – ” Rachel asked.

“Marco, how much is Fenestre worth?” Jake asked.

“Mr. Fenestre is the second wealthiest man in America,” Marco promptly answered. “He is worth twenty four point nine billion dollars. That’s billion. With a B.”

  


<I have the information that we require,> Ax said, waving a piece of notepad paper, <and I have erased my presence from the system.>

“Good work, Ax,” Jake said. “Let’s go.”

“Take the whole notepad,” David said, snatching it up off the desk, “or people will be able to see what you wrote.”

We left. The guard didn’t even look up.

“That could’ve gone far worse than it did,” Jake said.

“I don’t like it,” Marco said. “It was too easy.”

“Why can’t you ever let anything be easy?” Rachel asked. “It’s not like we were robbing the President or something. We grabbed a handful of addresses. It’s supposed to be easy.”

I took the note from Marco, gave it a quick skim, and tucked it into my glove. It was thin enough to morph with me, if I was careful.

David tossed the notepad into a random garbage bin. Tobias found us a nearby shop that was closed for renovations, and we broke in.

The shop was being painted. We dragged drop cloths into piles on the floor.

“Ax,” Jake asked, “What’s the time?”

<It is nine of your hours past midday, Prince Jake.>

“Do you have the ability to wake up at certain times? Like, can you keep time when you’re asleep?”

<Yes, Prince Jake.>

“Can you wake us up at five in the morning, please?”

<Certainly, Prince Jake.>

We wrapped ourselves in paint-spattered drop cloths, and went to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

I was on the beach, and I couldn’t morph. I tried not to panic.

What had happened? I’d been… in the ocean. I’d been a dolphin, in the ocean, and then… something had happened, and here I was, in my morphing outfit. Well, what was left of my morphing outfit. The rocks and surf had torn some pretty big holes in the flimsy yellow fabric, and scuffed up the skin beneath it as well. Nothing indecent was showing, but alone on a cold beach, I would’ve liked a bit more coverage.

Wait a minute. Something was wrong here. I hadn’t been in the ocean, I had been… in…

I made my way along the beach. “Rachel!” I called, trying to ignore the pain in my raw throat. “Jake! Ax! Marco! Tobias!” I needed an Animorph. Any Animorph. I needed to know if they were here.

I needed to know if they were having the same problems as me.

<It is time,> Ax said, and I woke up.

I sat up groggily, pushing dropcloths off me. I ran my hands down my body; I was whole. And hungry.

“Oh, man,” Marco groaned. “When I get home, I’m gonna eat everything in the house.”

“There’s still a few hours before you’ll get the chance,” Jake reminded him. “Okay, guys, let’s… let’s get ready to grab this flight home.” He looked a little green as he said it.

“Maybe we should look for a different way home,” I said.

“Like what?” Marco asked. “You want to try to do it flying? You want to show up with no money and no IDs and try to book some seats?”

“We could fly,” I shrugged. “I mean, we’d miss school, but – ”

“We’d miss half the weekend. I’m not letting a chee go to school for me again. Last time one of them covered for me, he aced a geography test and cleaned my room. It took weeks of hard work for me to drag everyone’s expectations back down.”

“Hey,” Rachel said, “where’s David?”

Just then, David appeared in the broken doorway. “You guys coming or what?” he asked. “Somebody’s going to show up and notice we’ve broken in soon. Early morning freaks are already starting to wander around out here.”

Ax and Tobias were already morphing human. We waited for them to be done and filed out.

“We need to get back,” Jake said firmly. “The plane is the fastest way.” He managed to say it without his voice trembling. But he didn’t look at any of us.

As we headed for the airport, I took Jake’s arm and slowed down, letting the others outpace us.

“You don’t have to do this,” I told him quietly. “What are you trying to prove?”

“Prove? I just want to get home.”

“You practically died on that plane yesterday, Jake. I know you’re terrified. When we can’t do something, we always find another way. We can find another way.”

“We don’t need another way,” Jake said firmly. “This way works fine.”

I frowned. I didn’t understand what was going on in Jake’s head. “What is with you recently?” I asked. “Is this a macho thing or something? Are you worried that Marco and Tobias and David won’t respect you if you admit you’re scared of something? Marco’s scared of everything; he tried to pull out of the whole war at first, he – ”

“This isn’t about fear, Cassie!” Jake hissed. “This is about letting fear tell us what we can and can’t do! This is about letting fear control our actions! Yes, I’m scared; you know I’m scared, they know I’m scared. But me being scared isn’t relevant when it comes to doing what needs to be done! Okay?”

“Fear is a survival mechanism,” I pointed out. “There are unreasonable fears that we have to get past. But this is a pretty reasonable one. You were nearly killed!”

Jake chuckled hollowly. “You think we should let reasonable fears stop us from acting?” he asked. “Cassie, we’ve all nearly died. We all have very, very good reasons to be afraid. Us all surviving as long as we have so far is hard to believe. Every mission, one or all of us could die. Every mission, we could slip up and lose someone we care about. We can’t let that control us.”

I crossed my arms. “That’s garbage. You’re always jumping in and picking teams for missions based on our talents, but also our fears. You always try to arrange things so that we only do the things we really hate if there’s absolutely no choice. Why are your fears any different?”

“Because, Cassie, a long time ago, you guys all decided I was the leader of this little operation,” Jake snapped. “That’s why. A leader can be just as scared and weak and doubtful as the rest of his unit. But he isn’t allowed to show it. Ever. People say they want their leaders to be just like them, but I don’t think that’s true. People want their leaders to be how they wish they could be. Marco and Rachel and Tobias and Ax and David don’t want me to give them permission to be scared. They want me to help them be brave. If I give into fear, that gives everyone leave to give into fear. If I give into rage or pity or grief, that gives everyone leave to give into rage or pity or grief. And when that happens, our entire fighting force becomes useless. Understand?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I wanted to tell Jake that his assessment of his own importance was a bit overambitious; we were perfectly capable of making our own decisions without checking if Our Big, Strong, Stoic Leader had made the same ones. But that comment wouldn’t be very helpful for anyone.

I realised I was staring when Jake looked away, uncomfortable.

“We didn’t do you any favours when we made you the leader, did we?” I asked.

Jake shrugged. “That’s another thing a leader isn’t allowed to do. Complain about being the leader.”

“We did pick the right person, though,” I said.

“We’ve lost the others,” Jake said, and started walking again. I grabbed his arm.

“Look,” I said, “maybe you’re right. But I bet even the great leaders and generals throughout history have had friends they can be honest with. People they can talk things through with. People who they know won’t lose faith in them, no matter what. You can strut around as macho as you want on missions, but you know you can come and talk to me about anything, right?”

Jake was still and silent for several seconds. Then he nodded. “Yeah. Cassie, I… you know...” he cleared his throat. “We should catch up to the others.”

He walked away. I watched him go.

Sometimes, I wondered how honest any of us were with ourselves, or how clear we actually were about what we were supposed to be doing. I supposed it didn’t matter. Maybe Jake had to see himself as a big, stoic, admired leader to get through the day. Maybe Rachel had to pretend to be Xena: Warrior Princess to gather the resolve to leap into yet another battle. Maybe Ax had to pretend that he was still an _aristh_ serving a Prince to avoid completely giving up.

Maybe I had to keep pretending that my world still made rational, logical sense. That I could somehow be a moral killer; that tying up our enemies to starve in the woods and killing slaves to reach military goals was compatible with my overall ethical system. That anything we did could make a difference in the long run. I hated self-delusion, but it seemed that we couldn’t survive the war without it. Maybe there was a magical line somewhere, the right amount of self-delusion to be useful without being dangerous. Where we could pretend to be who we needed to be just enough to make progress, but not so much that we destroyed ourselves in the process. Maybe that perfect, magic amount existed.

I hoped we’d find it.


	6. Chapter 6

We went home on the plane. We all survived. I gave the list of chat room participants back to Marco and went home.

I ate a big breakfast, finished up a bunch of chores I hadn’t done the night before, and went to school, exhausted.

The four of us who went to school met up at recess, way down the back of the oval where nobody could overhear us.

“Okay,” Marco said quietly. “Here’s the rundown. First up, before we checked out where anyone was from, Ax found out who owns the website about yeerks in the first place. It’s some rich woman called Lady Adalynd Parkes, but we couldn’t find an address or history or anything on her.”

“Fake name?” Jake asked.

“Yeah, probably. As for the mission... I checked out the chatroom again last night and a few new people drifted in and out, but I think we have most of the core users. Meg, Chazz and GoVikes are all from way out of town. All from different towns.”

“So either the yeerks are spreading out,” Rachel said, nodding, “or they’re all in the clear.”

“Some of them might be people who were accidentally freed on their own,” Marco said, “or the couple of people we’ve sent to your dad. Either way, I don’t think they’re in danger and they’re not dangerous to us.”

“And the others?” I asked.

“Gump is local,” Marco said.

I bit my lip. Local meant his father might very well be a controller.

“What about YrkH8r?” Jake asked. “he’s definitely a controller, right? He’d have to be local.”

Marco raised his eyebrows. “Interesting thing. He doesn’t seem to have a set location. His signal bounces all over the place.”

“Which means what, exactly?” Rachel asked.

Marco shrugged. “Well, he might have some crazy wicked internet security or something. But Ax thinks he’s transmitting from space. Probably works on the Pool ship or something.”

Rachel laughed. “You mean there’s some controller on the Pool ship shirking his duty to browse human chat rooms?”

“Apparently. Or maybe that’s his job. That would be the cushiest job ever. I wish I could get paid to hang out on chat rooms.”

“Are yeerks paid?” I asked. “Do they have currency?”

“I think we’re getting off-topic,” Jake said. “Who else do we have?”

“CKDSweet, Chazz, and Fitey777,” Marco said.

“I’m losing track,” I said. “Which is who again?”

“CKDSweet is suspicious of The Sharing,” Marco reminded me. “H8er told him they were fine. Chazz is the one who was telling Gump not to confront his father or say anything to him about yeerks. Fitey is the nutter looking for yeerk feeding grounds.”

“So they’re probably all innocents,” I said, nodding. “Meaning YrkH8er is probably our only controller?”

“I’m sure the board has other users we haven’t seen,” Rachel said. “And the others could just be better at pretending than H8er.”

“Are our last three all local?” Jake asked.

“That’s where it gets interesting,” Marco said, grinning. “CKD and Chazz are local. Fitey isn’t.”

“That makes sense,” Jake said, shrugging. “Wasn’t he going on about following police in the capital?”

“He’s not in the capital either.” Marco pulled out a small map of an area I didn’t recognise. A spot was marked on it. “He’s here. You might notice the lack of any kind of town or anything.”

“So he’s logging in from some ranch in the middle of nowhere?” I asked.

“Oh, no.” Marco grinned wider. “That is no little ranch, Cassie. That there dot represents one of the biggest and luxurious mansions in America… I think. It’s hard to be sure, since Mr. Fenestre is a renowned recluse who never, ever leaves his mansion and hardly ever gets visitors.”

The name was familiar. “Fenestre? The billionaire you like?”

“Oh, yeah. Our mysterious yeerk tracker posts from the very home of the founder of Web Access America itself.”


	7. Chapter 7

<Wait a minute,> Tobias said when we all met in Ax’s meadow after school, <you guys are seriously saying that the founder of Web Access America is hanging around in chat rooms, talking about alien conspiracy theories?>

“I doubt it,” Jake said. “It’s probably one of his security guards or something. Fitey mentioned tracking the police chief in the capitol, it’s gotta be somebody who moves around. Fenestre is well known for never leaving his mansion.”

“He even goes to work at home,” Marco said dreamily. “Not in a loser way. In a ‘I can use the internet service I invented to do all my work while eating caviar next to my own heated indoor pool’ kind of way.”

“But… there aren’t yeerks in the capitol, are there?” David asked.

“We don’t think so,” I replied. “They act like this is their main base of operations, but they might be expanding. They’re going to have to expand eventually.”

“Fitey might be wrong or he might be right about this Yeerk Pool in the capitol he thinks he’s close to finding,” Jake said, “but he’s a valuable ally either way. Unless he’s not. Unless it’s a trap.”

“It’s a pretty elaborate trap,” David said. “And for what? Just… hoping we check them out online, then hack a computer to find out where they are, then decide to go there even though they think you’re all andalites and probably don’t know how human transportation systems work?”

“Fitey’s interesting,” I said, “but is he important? We have a handful of suspicious humans here, including a kid in immediate danger, and a controller who’s trying to goad him into revealing himself. We need to deal with Gump and YrkH8er. And maybe the other people in town as well. CKDSweet has been investigating The Sharing. He’s going to get caught and draw attention to the others.”

<You want us to go do the ‘we are the andalites, here to save your people from the yeerks’ speech with them?> Tobias asked.

“That’d just draw more attention to the Animorphs if they’re caught,” David said. “Leave them alone. Let them be a distraction, if they want to take dumb risks.”

“We can’t just leave them to the yeerks,” I said.

“They seem to be avoiding the yeerks just fine so far,” David replied.

“You guys know those aren’t our only options, right?” Rachel asked. “We should tip Melissa off about the chatroom and give her the addresses of the people in it. Let the Star Defenders deal with Gump; looking out for the relatives of controllers is pretty much what they do. If H8er becomes dangerous… well, she knows how to contact us.”

“You’re okay with that?” I asked her.

“Look, I’m still not happy about her being involved in this war, but that’s kind of Chapman’s fault, isn’t it? The Star Defenders have been smart enough to stay out of trouble so far.”

“We can’t know that,” Marco said. “If they were caught, how would we know?”

“If they were caught, the very first thing they’d do is use Melissa to set a trap to catch the andalite bandits,” Rachel pointed out.

“Who,” David asked, “is Melissa?”

“She’s a human girl who thinks we’re andalites,” I explained. “Her parents are controllers. She works with other kids to… fight yeerks? Or something. We don’t have all that much contact.”

“Why not? That sounds like something it’d be really useful to know!”

“We’re fighting mind-readers,” I reminded him. “The more we know about each other, the more we can tell Visser Three if we get infested.”

“So we leave the locals to the Star Defenders,” Jake summarised, “and check out this possible ally in Fenestre’s mansion? Does that plan work for everyone?”

“I don’t think this is worth it,” I said. “Even if he is an ally, he’s too far away to be useful. How – ?”

“How will someone who works for the second richest man in America, the man who owns the biggest internet provider in America, be useful to us?” Marco asked, raising his eyebrows. “Cassie, we have an out-of-state newscaster funnelling ex-controllers to safety. Imagine what this guy could do.”

I didn’t have an answer to that. Which probably meant more plane rides. Joy.

I glanced at Marco’s map, trying to figure out where the nearest airport to the mansion was. Then I realised what area of the country I was looking at, and my eyes widened.

“Rachel,” I said, “isn’t this place about an hour’s drive from your dad’s? The fairly rich dad who’ll do anything for you?”

“Yeah,” she said suspiciously. “Why?”

Jake snapped his fingers. “You’re thinking Fitey is one of our freed ex-controllers!”

“I wasn’t, but yeah, that’s a good point. I was actually thinking of how we can do this more safely than our last trip, without having to sleep on dirty shop floors or anything. You’re all coming to my birthday in two weeks, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

<There will be cake, yes?>

“Rachel,” I said, grinning, “I think you should remember that birthday parties at someone’s house are super lame for people our age. I think you should call your father about arranging a surprise party for your friend next weekend.”


	8. Chapter 8

The plan was pretty simple. Rachel called to make the arrangements. Her dad was happy to help. In eight days, on Saturday morning, Rachel would take me to the big city on the pretense of a girl’s day out, only to surprise me with a hall hired near her dad’s place full of my friends. We’d party that day, sleep at her dad’s, spend Sunday in the city and go home Sunday night. The weekend after, I’d have my proper birthday party that my parents had set up.

It was the perfect system. It meant that Jake, Rachel, Marco, Tobias and I could all travel properly on the plane with tickets paid for by Rachel’s father. We could bring luggage! And wear shoes! Ax and David still had to go in morph, but we could protect them and pack clothes for them. We’d have somewhere to sleep in the city and plenty of time on Sunday to break into Fenestre’s mansion and try to find Fitey. Nobody would have to sneak out of their houses, and nobody would have to cover for us.

And we had a week to plan our mission. An entire week!

My only problem with the plan was the worry that my parents would be offended that Rachel had planned a cool birthday party a week before theirs. I needn’t have worried. If anything, they were extra smug in the week leading up to the operation, exchanging knowing glances and smiles when they thought I wasn’t looking and subtly trying to get me to not leave all my homework for the weekend. Pretending I didn’t know about the party they were so bad at keeping secret from me was almost impossible. If I hadn’t been lying about my secret guerrilla life for so long, I never would have managed it.

I even told Dr Johnson about the surprise party my friend was going to throw for me. The cover version, of course. Not the Animorphs plot.

I felt like we could’ve gone and saved Gump ourselves in the week we were waiting around to go to Rachel’s dad’s house, but I put the thought out of my mind. David had been right – the less we were involved, the better. The yeerks presumably didn’t know we’d found the chat room, and the less reason we gave them to think we had, the better.

Instead, I did a lot of homework. I tried to learn to say ‘sun’ in andalite thought-speak. I even cleaned my room.

And I worked with David, teaching him to control his morphing better.

On Wednesday, I flew out to the hork-bajir valley after school to meet David. We were supposed to meet at four-thirty, but I was heading out early because I couldn’t handle my parents badly trying to keep a surprise from me any longer.

I couldn’t see David from the air, but I quickly found Ket. Her daughter, Toby, was riding on her shoulder-blades. She was growing fast, and already looked almost too big to carry easily.

<Ket! Toby! Hi!> I dropped from the sky, landed, and started to demorph.

“Friend Cassie!” Ket exclaimed. She waited for me to finish demorphing and stand up, then touched her forehead to mine.

“Hey there, sexy momma!” Toby grinned. “What’s shakin’ out there in that big wide world of yours?”

I blinked at her. “Toby, what – uh, has David been having a lot of conversation with you?”

“He sure is one cool cat, huh?”

“Uh… yeah… sure. Um, is David around?”

“Not yet,” Ket said.

“Not yet?”

“He goes exploring. But he comes back in the afternoons to see you. Today you are early.”

“Yeah, I am. Sorry about that.”

Ket spread her hands and shrugged. “Our valley, your valley.”

“Where’s Jara?”

“He sings the trees at the Southern end, with Tenn.”

“… Tenn?”

“We show you. Come.” Ket picked me up in her free arm and raced down the valley much faster than I would have been able to on my own. Jara soon came into view. He was standing, palms and forehead flat against a tree, foremost head horn digging a little into the bark. It took me a moment to notice that he was humming; he was humming so low, the sound was on the very edge of my ability to hear.

As we got closer, I heard a second, softer, higher-pitched hum.

Ket set me down. I circled the tree. On the other side was a second hork-bajir. She was sitting on the ground, palms against the tree like Jara’s. Deep, fresh slash wounds marred one of her shoulders, and she was missing an eye.

Neither hork-bajir reacted to my presence. I had the distinct feeling that whatever was going on wasn’t something that should be interrupted. Ket, Toby and I backed away quietly.

“Who is she?” I asked Ket when we were far enough away that talking wouldn’t distract the others.

“She need safe place,” Ket shrugged. “We give her. Now we sing her _kawatnoj_ into the trees. Her kalashi do with her, but he is not here. So I borrow her Jara for this.”

“Loan her Jara,” I corrected absent-mindedly. “Her _kawatnoj_? She’s pregnant?”

“Yes. Second _kawatnoj_ of the valley. Tribe-friend for Toby. This is very good.” Ket rubbed Toby’s head.

“I’m happy for you, Ket,” I said.

Just then, David dropped from the sky in golden eagle morph and landed on a branch. <Hi, Cassie. Am I late?>

I pulled my mind away from the hork-bajir and to the task at hand. “No, I’m early. First task for today – can you demorph without falling out of that tree?”

David looked down at his talons, gripping the wood, and at his fingerless bird wings. <That’s nuts!>

“Just a few days ago, you watched Jake have to demorph enough to heal in a space way too small to hold a human,” I said. “We’ve fallen out of ships and had to demorph and morph bird wings before we hit the ground. This one time, I was in the Yeerk Pool and had to demorph in a way that made me look like I was demorphing to andalite, which meant going partway to horse, and some of the other animorphs had to demorph from ticks inside hork-bajir skulls. Morphing is your greatest weapon in this war; it can help you move, it can help you hide, it can help you fight, it can help you heal. And someday, you’re going to land in a tree as a bird and want to leap out of it as a lion. If you can’t do it, do you want to find out then, or now?”

<Okay, okay, I’m trying,> David said. He started to grow. His talons started shortening, and he immediately stopped demorphing, waited for a few seconds, then tried again. I nodded approvingly. Feathers sucked into his skin as he kept growing. Soon, he was too heavy for his eagle talons; he wobbled dangerously, and his exposed, bony wings shot out into arms, fingers growing on the ends. He scrabbled at the tree, trying to grip with his nails, but he was focusing more on trying to grip than he was on his talons, which softened and flattened into human feet. He fell, heavily, from the tree.

I could have caught him, but I didn’t. The sooner he learned that small injuries didn’t matter, the better.

A minute later he stood up, wincing.

“Very good,” I said.

“Are you kidding? I fell like an idiot. If that had been a battle I’d be dead.”

“If it had been a battle, you wouldn’t have tried without knowing you can do it,” I said. “You’re wearing your shorts and shirt, even though you were demorphing under pressure, and if you had’ve just remembered that humans are much heavier than birds you might’ve made it. You started by doing what we normally do; demorphing, and just stopping and trying again if things happen in the wrong order, but when you started to fall, you grew arms and fingers immediately. You directed that, somehow, in your panic. That’s really advanced.”

“How advanced?”

“Even Ax can only do it when he’s panicking.”

“Can you do it without panicking?”

I shrugged. That wasn’t important. “We need to get you some more human DNA so we can practice a morph for the party,” I said. I held out my arm. “You can have mine to start with.”

David flinched back. “You want me to morph a girl?”

I blinked at him. “That’s what you’re worried about? You can turn into a fly, but my icky girl cooties are too much for you?”

“I wasn’t really happy about the fly either.”

I sighed. “Well, if my DNA is just so unacceptable, then maybe you can borrow some from the boys. With their permission, obviously. Show me how fast you can go from human to lion. Go!”

David started morphing. I timed him, even though the timing wouldn’t mean much – he was still worn out from the demorph. Morphing can be pretty draining if you do too much of it all at once.

But in a few days, we were going to be breaking into a reclusive billionaire’s private resort in the search for secret alien fighters.

It was going to be draining.


	9. Chapter 9

To maintain the illusion of our ‘surprise birthday party’, I couldn’t be on the same plane as the boys. They took an early flight, David and Ax hiding in their sleeves, and Rachel and I took a mid-morning one.

“How’d your mom take this surprise birthday idea?” I asked Rachel as we boarded.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, man, she’s been insufferable. ‘I don’t see why you can’t have the party here. We can organise one. Why do you want to fly everyone out to an entirely different town?’ It’s almost worth telling her about the yeerks just to stop her from being definitely-not-jealous of Dad over this. And don’t get me started on Jordan and Sara, who want to know why Dad doesn’t throw all their friends flash out-of-town birthdays.”

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t expect this to be an issue.”

“It isn’t, my family’s just ridiculous.”

We settled into our seats. Rachel’s dad had bought us first class tickets. I was pretty sure the boys had travelled coach. I’d have to casually mention it to Marco later.

It was an enjoyable plane ride. The food was good, and there were absolutely no flies. Rachel’s dad met us at the airport. He looked older than I remembered him. More tired. Maybe it was the stress of his fancy job.

Maybe it was knowing that his daughters lived in a town secretly under attack by aliens.

“When are your school holidays, girls?” he asked as we got into his car. “Maybe for the holidays you can come and stay for longer, and bring Jordan and Sara. A few nights at least.”

Three nights away from our hometown? Yeah, it was definitely the alien thing. Even though I knew his concern was for Rachel and he was only addressing the both of us because I happened to be there, his concern was touching. I wished there was a way to reassure him without sounding suspicious. ‘Don’t worry, sir, we’re not in danger of the mind-control slugs that the andalites already promise to protect your daughters from. We’re completely aware of the danger, because we are those andalites, and we’re actually here to break into a rich guy’s mansion as part of an alien-fighting mission.’

Yeah. On second thought, we didn’t have anything comforting to say to him anyway.

I expected that it would be hard to feign surprise when we got to the birthday party. It wasn’t. I was expecting to see the Animorphs standing around with some party food; I wasn’t expecting a wonderland of gorgeous decorations. Thick, pale blue banners draped across the ceiling reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSIE, the edges stretching to the floor like theatre curtains. The white tablecloths were rimmed in matching blue, and everything was in gold and glass dishes.

“Surprise!” the Animorphs chanted as Rachel led me in. I laughed.

“How much did this cost?” I whispered to Rachel as we crossed the room.

“Way less than you’d think. The banner letters are just stick-on; we borrowed the cloths and stuff from one of Dad’s theatre friends and his boss let us use the hall really cheap. The biggest bill will probably be all the laundry.”

“You should do this for a living, you know. Really classy party designs on a budget.”

“Maybe someday, when our current little planetary crisis is over,” she said with a wink.

And even though it was just a pretend party, even though the whole thing was a cover for a mission, I couldn’t help but relax. It was nice to relax. It was nice to pretend that all we had to worry about was getting back home in time for school, to pretend to be normal kids.

If only for a little while.


	10. Chapter 10

We woke up early Sunday morning so that we’d have plenty of time to check out Fenestre’s mansion. We went as six geese and a merlin – David didn’t have a goose morph. Merlins tire easily compared with geese, but it didn’t take him long to figure out that he could just perch on someone’s back for the ride. This saved us a lot of time.

As we approached the mansion, we realised that the term ‘mansion’ didn’t do it justice.

Joe-Bob Fenestre lived in a palace. He lived in a small city of his own. The mansion itself was the size of a city block and four stories high, and not far from it were three guest houses each half she size of my school. An outdoor bar stretched over a massive swimming pool that was in the shape of the WAA logo. A greenhouse twice the size of my house was bursting with lettuces and orange trees and exotic fruits I’d never seen. A stable big enough for a dozen horses bordered on a large, perfectly green paddock, and next to that was a small private zoo; I saw two cheetah, a tiger, and I was pretty sure I glimpsed a rhinoceros. I must have been wrong about that last one, though – it was very definitely illegal for a private citizen to own a rhinoceros. There was what looked like Fenestre’s own private observatory, and a garage big enough to hold twenty cars.

<What do you think he's got in that garage?> Tobias wondered. <Ferraris? Porsches? Jaguars? Vipers?>

<Not minivans and Volvo station wagons,> Marco said. <That's for sure. Maybe a few Rolls-Royces.>

<Why does he need so may cars if he never leaves the house?> I asked. <I bet it’s just employee parking.>

<Killjoy,> Marco said.

The grounds must have taken a lot of employees to maintain. And not just maintenance guys, either; as we flew over, I could see men lurking in little alcoves around the main house and at the corners of the property. They seemed to be carrying big, heavy guns. The edges of the property were very easy to make out; they were where the huge, barbed-wire-topped concrete wall stood. And inside that, a rigid wire fence. I had the feeling it was probably heavily electrified. There was one entrance to the whole property, and it was heavily guarded.

Heavily guarded from humans, at least. I was already looking for the best blind spot to land in.

<What exactly is our plan here?> David asked. <Just to lurk around and wait for someone to mention yeerks?>

<I want to know what computer Fitey’s been posting from,> Jake said. <I think that’ll tell us a lot. Can you manage that, Ax?>

<If I have access to the terminals, yes. Provided he has not erased his presence. But if he is a human, it is unlikely that he will know how.>

<You realise this is the home of the guy who created the system that Fitey would be erasing himself from, right?> Rachel asked. <Fitey might still actually be Fenestre. Even if he isn’t, I think we can expect whoever he is to understand this human-built system pretty well.>

<If Ax finds nothing on any of the computers, we’ll deal with that then,> Jake said. <One step at a time. We need to get in.>

<There,> Tobias said. <Blind spot behind the stables.> He dropped. The rest of us followed, keeping the V formation from our flight over; Tobias in front, Marco and I behind him, then Rachel and Jake, with Ax in the rear, David perched on his back.

As Tobias dropped closer to the stables, the air around him flashed blue. He suddenly went limp and dropped to the ground.

<Pull up!> Jake demanded. <Pull up!>

I was already pulling up, flapping my wings as hard as I could for lift. Beside me, Marco sank through the haze of blue and dropped, helpless, to the ground. I kept flapping. My right wing dipped; blue sparked around it, and the entire wing went numb and stopped moving.

I’d just started rising, too. I’d almost made it. But it’s impossible to fly with one wing.

I didn’t pass out as I dropped through the field. I just stopped moving. I was breathing just fine, and my eyes blinked on their own, although I couldn’t blink them myself. I hit the ground heavily, unable to do anything to lessen the impact. I could see part of another goose nearby – Tobias, most likely – but couldn’t turn my head or move my eyeballs to get a better look. Above me, Animorphs were shouting. I wanted to respond, but whatever had happened to me had stopped me from being able to thought-speak.

<We have to find a way through!>

<How?! What are we supposed to do?>

<Ax, do you recognise this?>

<It is difficult to be certain, Prince Jake. I believe it is probably a biostatic field, in which case, our bladecousins are not currently dead.>

<That’s great, ax, but how are we supposed to resc – >

<Guns! Pull back!>

I heard guns – normal guns, not Dracon beams – firing nearby.

<We’ll be back!> Jake called, as somebody picked me up. <Don’t worry! We’re coming for you!>

I couldn’t respond as I was carried towards the opulent house of the second richest person in America.

I couldn’t do anything.


	11. Chapter 11

I was placed in what seemed, to my limited vision, to be an empty white room. The guard was careful not to hurt me as he put me down on a clean white floor, facing the back wall only a couple of feet away. The room was brightly lit, but I couldn’t turn to see where the light was. Behind me, I heard the rumble of a very heavy metal sliding door closing. There was a tang in the air. Ozone?

Then, after some length of time I had no way of measuring, I could move again.

Movement didn’t come back slowly, like waking up or recovering from a Dracon stun. One moment I couldn’t move at all, and the next I was completely fine. I got to my feet and spun around to inspect the room.

Tobias and Marco were there, both still geese like me, both still completely motionless. They were breathing, so I didn’t touch them. Behind them was a wall of solid bars, complete with a big barred door, like a jail cell. Judging from the smell, it was almost definitely electrified. Beyond that was the rest of the room; plain, white, with a heavy metal door of its own. The only piece of furniture in the room was, incongruously, a comfy-looking armchair next to the door.

A woman was in the armchair. She looked to be in her late 20s, with neat blonde hair combed back perfectly behind her shoulders. She wore a stylish crimson skirt suit with very shiny high heels. She looked just like the sort of woman Rachel would become someday. She was reading a crime novel – or at least, she had been reading a crime novel. At that moment, she was looking at me, slipping a bookmark into her novel and putting it aside.

“You’re awake!” She didn’t sound particularly afraid of me, but she wasn’t threatening, either. “How do you feel?”

<Where am I?> I asked, trying to sound as andalite as possible. <Who are you? How long have we been here?>

“Oh, do you need to, um, change back?” the woman asked. “Should I leave? Espie says you guys don’t like talking to us in your normal bodies, except for the little kid… something about your honor, right?” She fiddled with her watch. “You’ve been here about ten minutes. And my name’s Adalynd. Are you allowed to tell me yours?”

<Adalynd? Adalynd Parkes?>

She blinked at me. “Do we know each other?”

<You own the web site about yeerks.>

“Oh, yeah.” She laughed. “Is that what this is about?”

<Are you Fitey777?>

“No. I mean, kind of? But no. I’ve called Espie, you really should talk to him about all this. Man, he’s going to be so relieved to meet you. We were expecting the Yeerk Empire, to be honest.”

I considered pressing her for more information, but I’d told her too much as it was. I stayed silent.

<She didn’t actually tell you where we are,> Marco pointed out, scrabbling to his little goose feet.

<Marco!> I said. <Are you okay?>

<Yeah, how’s Tobias?>

<Breathing.>

<Okay then. We were in morph, what, ten minutes before they got us? Something like that?>

<We have plenty of time.>

<Good. Because I can’t see any way for us to break out without demorphing, and there’s no way there aren’t security cameras in here. I guess we’re just going to have to wait to be rescued.>

<I hate having to be rescued,> I mumbled.

<Oh, man,> Tobias moaned, getting up. <Being a hawk is survivable, but if I get stuck as a freaking GOOSE, I might as well just throw in the towel.>

<At least you won’t be the only goose _nothlit_ ,> I said grimly.

<Guys, just to warn you,> Marco said, <if we’re stuck as geese and we get out of here, I’m coming clean to my dad about the war. I can’t let him think I’m dead. I can’t. He wouldn’t… >

<I’ll back you up, Marco,> I said.

<If we all get stuck as geese, I’m pooping on Jake’s head every day for this,> Tobias said.

<What’d Jake do? I’m punching that David kid as soon as we get out of this, goose or not,> Marco growled. <This whole dumb thing is his fault. Messing around in chat rooms… how’d he even get online out in the valley? Sounds shady to me.>

<Even I know that’s not fair,> Tobias said. <He found the room, but this is everyone’s mission.>

<What’s your big problem with David, Marco?> I asked. <Ever since we met him you’ve been nothing but snappy to him.>

<I don’t have a problem with – >

The door opened. A man strode in. He kissed Adalynd briefly, whispered something in her ear, and turned to smile at us.

“Andalites!” he said, sounding genuinely delighted to see us. “Welcome!” His smile was familiar. I’d seen him on a poster about a week ago.

It was Joe-Bob Fenestre.


	12. Chapter 12

<I wish I could pretend to be shocked,> Marco remarked privately to Tobias and me, <but...>

<What do you want with us?> I asked Joe-Bob.

“Oh, you will talk to me!” His grin brightened even more. “Good. I was worried that communication might get a bit tricky otherwise. It’s been a bit of a problem for my brother, but then, he’s rarely worth talking to in any case. What do I want with you… well, knowing why you’re here would be a good start. Did the Empire send you? Have you made some sort of deal with them?”

<Deal with the Empire?> I tried not to sound too confused. <What do you know of the Empire?>

“Hmm. This runs the risk of becoming a very circular conversation.”

“He asked me about that yeerk website,” Adalynd told him. “You know, with the chat room? He wanted to know if I was Fitey.”

“The website? This is about that?”

<You made the website,> Marco said. <Tracking yeerks. Getting the truth out there.>

“Adalynd did, really,” Fenestre said.

<You’re Fitey,> Marco continued.

“Yes.”

<But… but you own Web Access America. You built it! You could do so much more if – >

“Technically, this host owns Web Access America,” Fenestre said, tapping his temple. “A lot of the architecture is mine, but it was really a joint effort, and things are in his name. Trust me, it’s important to keep that sort of thing clear when you have as many hosts as I do… you do not want to turn up to a meeting in the wrong body.” He laughed.

<You’re a controller.> Marco sounded hurt.

“Of course. Why did you – oh!” He laughed again. “That’s why you’re here? I was worried that my brother had found a way to enlist you against me, or that you were chasing a military venture… you’re looking for allies, aren’t you? You thought that maybe some humans had discovered the truth and would be able to help you, all alone on this strange planet. You’re wasting your time, andalite. You won’t find any human allies. It’s impossible. Humans do what’s best for them and them alone. They won’t fight unless they’re already in danger, and by then, the Empire already has them. But this, at least, solves our major dilemma – why you’re here, and how you found me. I was worried for nothing, it seems. So now that you’re here, and I’m here… it’s time to move on to step two.” He spread his hands wide. “I want to invite all of you to come live with me, here, in my glorious mansion!”


	13. Chapter 13

I stared. Marco stared. Tobias stared.

<What the fuck?> Tobias asked us privately.

<We’re a little confused,> Marco admitted to Fenestre.

“It’s very simple,” Fenestre said. “I have a little paradise here. There are big, open fields for you to run in if you want. We can get a whole forest put in if you want. No more war. No more fighting. I wouldn’t even charge my normal rent, which is time in the brains of my tenants… as glorious as it would be to fly on the wings of a bird or see the bottom of the ocean, that’s pretty obviously going to be off the table with andalites. A pity, but I can work with that. Are you going to tell me you don’t miss the peace of your home? That you aren’t tired of fighting and running and hiding from an incompetent blowhard with too many guns to protect a planet that doesn’t know about you or care about you? You, me, Fenestre and Adalynd here… we were all brought up being told that our duty in life was to serve other people, getting ignored and mocked and spit on until we could prove how useful we were to ungrateful dimwits, but not too useful, oh no; that’s just as bad, you can’t insult the mediocre by daring not to be mediocre yourself. We don’t have to deal with that any more! On this planet, money is power, and information is power. Here, we have practically unlimited reserves of both.”

<Still really confused,> Marco said.

<Who _are_ you? > I asked.

“My name is Esplin. Esplin Nine Four Six Six of the Den Ziggur Pool.”

The name meant nothing to me. But Tobias reared up, extending his neck and flapping his wings, hissing. <Visser Three!>

Fenestre… Esplin… nodded. “Our charming friend Visser Three is my twin brother,” he said. “Two yeerks hatching from the same grub. Technically, he is Esplin Nine Four Six Six Prime. I am Esplin Nine Four Six Six Lesser. Twins are extraordinarily rare among yeerks. Our culture is not really set up to deal with us. Some twins work together to consolidate power under their name, but my dear brother is not the cooperative type. He is the Prime; to him go all the best chances, the best assignments, the respect of our name. And yet when he makes a mess and tarnishes it...” Esplin shrugged.

<This explains a lot less than you seem to think it does,> Marco said.

Esplin sighed. “Let me break things down for you. That incompetent fool has always taken the best of everything accorded us; the best jobs, the best resources, the best connections, and messed it up. And when I try to do something sensible, something productive, he feels threatened. For most of our lives, he has wished me dead. He chanced into getting the only andalite host in the Empire and used the promotion and prestige to have me assigned to the lowest, most dangerous busywork duty he could manage. I only scraped out of a taxxon assignment through my own track record of success. The worst he could do was get me some downtrodden middle manager human with no hope and no future.” He patted Fenestre’s arm affectionately. “Well, that was a mistake. Humans may be emotionally and ethically weak creatures, but give them something they want hard enough, and they are mental powerhouses. Alone, Joe-Bob and I were both highly competent and undervalued. Together, we make a genius. So we became allies, and built...” he flung his arms wide, presumably intending to indicate his enormous property; however, in the small white room, much of the effect was lost.

“Then we found others, like Adalynd here,” he continued, sharing an affectionate look with her. “She’s clever too, in a different way. There is so much variety on this planet! So many minds, so many types of people, so many different points of view. Have you ever been in the mind of a tiger, andalites? They’re large felines from the forest, and they are glorious! So calm. Yet so ready for anything. You really must acquire one. Stay with me, and I’ll get Billy up here for you to acquire.”

“One of them has a tiger morph,” Adalynd said, inspecting her nails. “The leader, I think. I don’t know about the others.”

“Great, isn’t it?!” Esplin said enthusiastically.

<This yeerk is nuts,> Marco commented privately. <Completely over the rim. Bonkers. Playing with clowns in crazy town. Scarfing waaaay too much maple and ginger oatmeal.>

<You might be right,> Tobias replied. <He’s not gonna have access to Kandrona rays out here, is he? He might actually be an oatmeal addict.>

<How many yeerks are in your compound?> I asked Esplin.

“Me,” he said sadly. “Just me. My burden to bear, I’m afraid, for now. Someday we’ll expand and I’ll swim with my kind again, but we don’t have the resources for that yet.”

<Why hasn’t Visser Three just blown up your home, if you two hate each other so much?> I asked.

“Because he needs me,” Esplin said. “I have information he wants very badly. Visser Three doesn’t want me dead until he’s had a good long look through my hosts’ minds and had me in his torture chamber for awhile. We don’t just develop human technology here, you know; we develop technology that’s going to revolutionise the Yeerk Empire. And my dear brother wants very, very much for that technology to be his. Besides.” He grinned. “We’ve been playing against each other for a long time. You think your little guerrilla operations have been a problem for him? Stick with me, and I’ll show you how to sow real chaos in his ranks. He wouldn’t dare to kill me quickly even if he could. He knows I have to have contingency plans in place. Alive, I’m a thorn he accommodate for. He has no idea what will happen when I die.”

<What will happen when you die?> I asked.

“Now, now, you haven’t accepted my little proposal of alliance yet. Why would I go telling you something like that?”

<Yep,> Marco said. <Off his rocker.>

<You have no Kandrona emitter,> I said. <That’s why you can’t have your own pool full of yeerks here.>

“They’re not exactly easy to source. They need to be built off-planet. I couldn’t possibly gather the materials without being noticed.”

<Which means you don’t need the Kandrona,> I continued.

“That’s right.”

<You’re an oatmeal addict.>

“A what?” Esplin laughed. “Oh, no. I never try my own creations on myself until I’m sure they’re safe.”

<Your own creations?> Tobias asked. <You… invented maple and ginger oatmeal?>

“Not the oatmeal itself. I invented the miracle chemical in it. The holy grail of all my research – a substance that lets yeerks live free of the Kandrona. Free of the Empire, if they want to! Space travel did not free us, a range of hosts does not free us, but that… that is true freedom.” He sighed. “The side effects were, of course, completely unacceptable. So I had one of my lesser-known hosts create a shell company, buy a cereal company, and started adding it to a widely distributed, easily stored, very identifiable human food that could be hidden and eaten very easily. Then we started making distribution deals in supermarkets in the neighbourhoods around the Yeerk Pool.” He giggled.

<To… what? Annoy Visser Three? That’s what you did all this for?> Tobias asked.

“I couldn’t care less if that fool were annoyed or not,” Esplin shrugged. “But the distraction is a very useful bonus. Between the chemically-induced dissent in his ranks and your efforts, he’s been far too distracted to come looking for me.” He gave a small bow. “I’m grateful to you for that, by the way. I would never have been able to accomplish so much without you. It’ll be a pity to lose that distraction if you decide to stay with me, but there’s plenty you could still do from this location, if you wished. You wouldn’t be able to leave, though. That’s a rule, for people ‘in the know’ – nobody goes out. Only the ignorant day labourers come and go; my people stay here, and if we want anything, we spend money and have it brought in.”

<But if dissent is a bonus,> I said, confused, <then what’s the purpose of distributing – >

“Science!” he said enthusiastically. “I had to know what it did to a broader range of test subjects, see? I can keep a handful of yeerk captives in sterile environments here, but out there, in the field, I can run dozens of trials at once! I had to see how people would actually behave on the substance. I had to see what the long-term effects were outside an artificial environment. And now there are dozens of yeerk scientists out there, dissecting brains and analysing blood, doing so much of my drudging fieldwork for me – for free, thinking they work for the Empire! But the Empire don’t know what chemical I’m using, yet. That data isn’t useful to them. It’s useful to me. And through me, it’s useful to every future yeerk, who is going to benefit from the sacrifice of these research subjects when we free ourselves once and for all from slavery to the Kandrona.”

<Why do you think we’d help you with a project like that?> Tobias asked.

“I don’t, and I didn’t ask. I just invited you to stay here with me, because I find you fascinating and would love to speak with you and observe you more and even, possibly, if I can convince you to trust me enough, someday get a look inside one of your minds. I thought you might like to be free from the war and have the money and power to build a real home here for yourselves, and possibly have the chance to survive long enough to see your real home again rather than being slaughtered in some pointless battle. But if you do want a military justification… well, we all know that my brother is a far greater threat to the freedom of this planet than I am, and you could do a lot to fight him with the resources available here. I know how much you must hate him. The little one you work with, he is the brother of Prince Elfangor, yes? Whom my twin killed quite publically. As for freedom from the Kandrona… hmm.” He thought for a minute. “Do you know why everyone follows my brother, even though he’s such a terrible boss? Even though perfect obedience can still result in random death? Do you know why you’re facing wave after wave of warriors who would otherwise much prefer to get out of your way and make your job easier, but who fight anyway? Because of the Kandrona. It all comes back to the Kandrona. A coup or rebellion is almost impossible in our Empire, because everyone needs a Kandrona, and their construction is controlled by the Council of Thirteen, who appoint the Vissers. Obey the hierarchy, or starve painfully to death. You want to break the back of the Yeerk Empire? Blowing up ships and killing the occasional easily-replaceable leader won’t do it. You need to break the Council’s stranglehold over the survival of every member of our species. You need to break our reliance on the Kandrona.”

<A pretty speech,> Marco said, <but I don’t believe you intend to doom your entire species. You don’t believe your own words. You just want the freedom to take over this planet faster.>

“It is all about freedom, isn’t it? No, I don’t intend to doom my species. But I really couldn’t give a stuff about the Empire. The empire wants yeerks everywhere, expanding across the galaxy in a rigid hierarchy under their control. You andalites want yeerks nowhere, except perhaps crawling through the sludge of our home planet, with no interstellar government because there are no interstellar yeerks. As for me? I don’t want either of those things. I want to live in my big home with my wide array of voluntary hosts and huge swimming pool. I want other yeerks to have that opportunity, too, if they have the means to buy what they need from me. Handfuls of yeerks in handfuls of resorts all over the galaxy. Or maybe millions of resorts all over the galaxy. Or maybe handfuls just here on Earth. Honestly, I don’t really care. We don’t have the same goals, but mine are far more compatible with yours than either of us are with the Empire’s.”

I looked from Fenestre to Adalynd, and back again. Currently, only Fenestre was infested, but Adalynd didn’t show any shock or disgust at anything that was being said. My sudden, burning hatred for both of them, for everyone who had entered into this sick arrangement, made me want to throw up.

I couldn’t fault them, really, for choosing voluntary hosting in exchange for a life of luxury. It was their bodies and minds to do what they wanted with; I didn’t know what Esplin’s schedule was like but just living in such a mansion probably made it one of the highest-paying “jobs” around, for the hours put in. It wasn’t something I’d ever consider, even if I wasn’t busy fighting a war, but I couldn’t decide everything for other people.

No, what disgusted me was that they knew about the war. They knew about Visser Three, they knew about the oatmeal and how it doomed innocent humans to a life with a raving, insane yeerk in their heads, with no hope of freedom. They knew what this yeerk had done, was still doing, and they still bought in. Were there human scientists in the compound, voluntary hosts who had worked on the oatmeal drug and were collating new data as it came in? Or did Esplin do the work himself while the humans tried hard not to think about it, distracting themselves with fancy cars and horse rides and nice drinks at the pool bar?

It was worse than the voluntary controllers in the Yeerk Pool beneath our town. I knew a good portion of them were being blackmailed or threatened or coerced. If Esplin’s invitation to us was any indication, it looked like these people had just been offered money and luxury. And in exchange for money and luxury, they’d turned their backs on a war for our planet, except to design weapons that caused nothing but pain and strife.

 _And after the war, Cassie?_ I asked myself. _When the war is over, and you need thinkers and innovators like Esplin Nine Four Six Six Lesser? When you need optimistic fighters for freedom, ready to take joy in communion without conquering?_

After the war was after the war. We didn’t have luxuries like that.

_What are you going to do with all the yeerks, Cassie, if by some miracle you do win? What’s going to happen to the Aftrans of the galaxy; trapped, blind, under the heel of an Empire ready to execute anyone for the slightest dissent? Whatever you want the future to look like, you’d better make sure you’re ready for it before you start having to build it._

<Yeeeah,> Marco said. <I don’t think we can stay. Sorry. We have this war on and all.> Privately, to Tobias and I, he added, <This war sucks. The second richest man in America is offering us a life of luxury surrounded by cool cars and fancy pools and hot babes with a blank check for anything we want, and we have to turn it down because he’s got an insane alien slug in his brain and we’re too busy fighting his twin insane alien slug. ANY OTHER SCENARIO and this would be too good to be true!>

<It’s first class on the plane all over again,> I replied drily.

“That’s too bad,” Esplin said, shaking Fenestre’s head. “It would have been truly amazing. Ah, well. Adalynd, go and get the gun, please?”

Adalynd nodded and left.

<You’re going to kill us?> Marco asked. <You’d be doing your brother a favour.>

“Kill you? Of course not. Sooner or later, the rest of your team is going to find a way into this compound. I don’t know a great deal about andalites, but I suspect that if they don’t find you alive in here, the outcome is not going to be good for me or any of my people. I need you alive so that I can trade you for our safety. However, there is simply no way that I am going to pass up on the scientific opportunities afforded us in this limited time. I would have preferred to work with you voluntarily, but...” he shrugged.

Adalynd returned with some sort of very bulky ray gun I’d never seen cradled carefully in her hands. Esplin nodded at her, and she aimed through the bars and fired.

Tobias dodged. Not fast enough. He fell to the floor, unmoving. He was still breathing; as I watched, his eyes blinked. It must have been a handheld version of the paralysing field over the compound.

“Take careful note of the timing, Adalynd,” Esplin said. “We need to be precise here, as some of these experiments are going to be very invasive. We need to time things so that they can’t fight us while we work, but so that they’ll regain control in time to demorph and heal before they die.”

“That’s a straight clock, that’s not hard to work with, but I need to know exactly how painful it’s going to be to factor in the pain recovery time,” she said. “I mean, more pain is a shorter time, but if the amount can’t be quantified in advance...”

“Hmm. Some of this will be guesswork, then. We’ll just have to risk it. We have three bargaining chips.”

<Wait!> I said. I had to stall. Stall until rescue came.

“Hmm? What is it?”

What was it? What could I…?

He was a scientist. Biology.

<How does the oatmeal chemical even work?> I asked. <That’s what’s been confusing me. I mean, I’d understand if the chemical itself replaced the Kandrona nutrients, but someone can stop eating the oatmeal and still not need the Yeerk Pool. How does that work?>

“Oh! That’s simple! There’s a yeerk organ that… hmm. This is going to be tricky. Some of these things don’t have a name in English or Galard.” He frowned, thinking.

 _Yes,_ I thought. _Keep thinking. Think for as long as you want._

“Okay. So we absorb multiple minerals in the Yeerk Pool, yes? They are stabilised by Kandrona rays, ingested, and then held in the right orientation by enzymes so that we can store and consume them. Like an andalite body stores fat.”

<Okay,> I said encouragingly.

“There are many chemicals in a Yeerk Pool, of different levels of importance, and we can store different amounts of them in our bodies. The yeerks’ big weakness is one of the few Kandrona-stabilised vitamins, which can be obtained from a Yeerk Pool and only from a Yeerk Pool. It’s… well, our name for it is ultrasonic and can’t be pronounced with a human mouth. Let’s call it… hmm…”

<Kandronite,> Marco chipped in. <Like Kryptonite,> he added privately to me, in case I didn’t get the reference.

“Sure,” Esplin said, waving a hand dismissively. “Kandronite is the reason that yeerks need to return to the Pool every three days. Cut the reliance on it, and a yeerk should theoretically be able to go months, possibly even years without a trip to the Yeerk Pool. I won’t have an exact timeline until Visser Three stops killing my test subjects, but I have reason to believe that he has a few secreted away in mental hospitals, trying to see the timeline himself, so perhaps I’ll get lucky and find his data. Anyway. This is the chemical that we need to substitute.”

<But the oatmeal doesn’t substitute it,> I said, confused. <If it did, the addicts would still need to eat it every three days to stay alive.>

“You’re right,” he said, grinning. “It doesn’t. It uses another solution. An unfortunately untenable solution, but still scientifically very fascinating.”

<What does it do?> I asked.

“There are only two organs in the yeerk body that actually need Kandronite. One is… it’s our version of… hmm, I don’t know andalite organs either. Like an earth animal’s liver? An organ used for detoxifying and purifying the body. If this organ stops working… well, that’s the cause of what we call the fugue, or Kandrona starvation.”

<It’s not starvation at all,> I said, fascinated despite myself. <Your body poisons itself to death.>

Esplin shrugged. “All starvation really comes down to the body running out of an essential chemical, and something not working. The thing is, the ‘liver’ only uses very, very tiny amounts of Kandronite. It’s vital, but only in tiny amounts. Most of it is taken up by the, uh… the systems that help us process sensory data and interface with our host’s nervous system. It’s this greedy system that takes up the body’s entire supply within a few days. So the question doesn’t have to be, ‘How do we create an artificial source of Kandronite?’ A question that could be almost as effective is, ‘How do we reduce the interface’s need of Kandronite?’”

<But the yeerk would still require access to the Kandrona occasionally,> I said.

“Occasionally, yes. But it’s far more achievable than trying to create an artificial Kandronite. Besides which, there are many other chemicals a yeerk absorbs from the Pool, some of which are also Kandrona-stabilised, so even if artificial Kandronite were created, we’d still be reliant on the Pool for other nutrients occasionally anyway.”

<So the oatmeal chemical… ?>

“It blocks some receptors to dramatically decrease the uptake of Kandronite. That’s all. That’s its entire job. I did the calculations, and it came out looking like a miracle; Kandronite need dropped by ninety per cent with very few immediate side effects. Control over a host is weakened quite a bit, and far less information comes through the link, but since all of my hosts are voluntary anyway, this didn’t strike me as a particularly important problem. I designed it as a temporary drug; pop it every morning on days when you’re far from a Pool and turn your three days into a month, then get back into a normal schedule when you’re home again. Or stay on it constantly, if you want, taking it each morning. But there were… miscalculations.”

<Miscalculations?>

“Yeerk biology is an extremely new field. Understand, we learned to pilot spaceships before we learned how to dissect a body. There were factors I didn’t account for. For example, I had no idea it would be so addictive. People who start taking it just don’t seem to stop. But that wouldn’t be an insurmountable problem if the drug worked as it was intended.” He sighed. “It doesn’t, of course.”

<How so?>

“Well, as I said. It was supposed to be temporary. Take the drug, block the receptors for a little while, then recover. But the yeerk body doesn’t clear the drug up like I thought it would. Those receptors stay blocked permanently. Meaning that when people keep taking more and more… blocking more and more receptors… well, in the end they do indeed find themselves free from the Kandrona for far longer than I would have hoped. But essential parts of the interface organ, starved of nutrients, eventually die. They corrupt not only stable host control, but also basic sensory and emotional processing. The yeerk becomes permanently insane – brain-damaged, I suppose, would be the appropriate analogy.”

<But you have another way,> Marco said.

“Hmm?”

<You don’t have a Kandrona. You’re not addicted to oatmeal. So how are you still alive?>

“Ah.” Esplin twisted Fenestre’s lips into a far grimmer smile. “Well, we all have our little secrets, don’t we?”

<If you want us to join you – >

“But you’re not going to do that no matter what I say, are you? Adalynd...”

Adalynd fired the gun again. I felt the familiar numbness overtake me and I fell, unable to move. Unable to thoughtspeak. But awake.

And confused.

He’d shown no hesitation in telling us all about his happy mansion, his history, how his oatmeal worked. He was nuts, sure, but he’d been open and enthusiastic. Why clam up now? Because we’d turned him down? Or had he realised we were stalling for time?

How much time did we have left in morph?

We were taken into some kind of laboratory and laid out on wide metal benches. A woman in a lab coat drew blood from each of us. I wanted to ask, was she involved in the oatmeal project? Did she think we were andalite bandits, or that her boss had suddenly become interested in geese? Had she let Esplin into her head? Did she know about him?

I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t thought-speak.

The woman laid out a tray of scalpels, and started plucking the feathers from my chest.

And I couldn’t move.


	14. Chapter 14

It wasn’t the first time I’d been dissected, but it was the neatest. Normally I was torn apart in battle, not carefully sliced up with a scalpel.

“It just looks like a normal goose on the inside, sir,” the scientist cutting me up said, sounding confused. “Nothing’s out of place in here.”

“Well, take tissue samples, but be careful not to kill it,” Fenestre’s voice said from somewhere I couldn’t see. “We’ll run the tissue and the blood and see what comes up. There has to be some sort of storage mechanism for the DNA, at the very least.”

“You’ll want to work quickly,” Adalynd said from behind me. “It’s probably going to rouse in… around thirty to sixty seconds. I can stun it again, but then it won’t be able to demorph to heal, and we don’t want to kill it.”

“Not long enough,” Fenestre said. “We’ll have to take tissue from the next one. Andalite, when you can, I suggest you demorph to heal. Any aggressive moves on your part, and Adalynd will stun you again right away. Adalynd, if the pain is shortening the stun duration by this much, can’t we just use painkillers?”

“They react too unpredictably with the stun field. Besides, once our friends here have demorphed I doubt you’ll be able to convince them to morph again, and I have no idea what Earth painkillers would do to an andalite body.”

And then, suddenly, I could move. I tried to flap my wings, but the big, powerful muscles that anchored them to my sternum had been cut. I turned my head enough to see Marco and Tobias; they didn’t look harmed. They’d been concentrating on one of us at a time, probably not wanting to deal with three demorphed andalites at once.

Adalynd was standing well back, aiming the stun gun carefully. I considered my options. One: demorph, and reveal myself as human. Completely out of the question. Two: lie there, and probably eventually die as a critically wounded goose. Not great. Three: attack, do no damage due to barely being able to move, get stunned again, and then die as a critically wounded goose.

No good options. And Marco and Tobias could see and hear, but they couldn’t help. They couldn’t thought-speak or move. The other Animorphs… who knew where the other Animorphs were?

I was on my own.

What did I have to bargain with? Nothing. Esplin wouldn’t even believe a defection at this point, and I had no valuable secrets that I could give him.

What did I have to surprise him with? Nothing. The boys were stunned and I was too injured to move. I could thought-speak, but I had nothing to say, and screaming for help was pointless. I was in too much pain to think straight.

Too much…

Pain…

I could…

I looked at my useless, fingerless, unmoving wings. I remembered Ax’s voice.

_< Cassie. Show me a sun.>_

I couldn’t thought-speak an andalite sun. But there was another trick I’d used before, and it had always worked.

<I’m really sorry about this, guys,> I told Tobias and Marco privately.

Then I gathered up every bit of pain I was feeling and forced it, a single sensation, into their minds. I flapped about to generate more pain, broadcasting the feeling to my friends. To Esplin’s posse, it would look like I was struggling feebly on the bench, struggling against the inevitable. To Marco and Tobias, it was quite a different experience.

I knew it had worked when they started screaming.

<AAAAARGH!>

Everyone in the room jumped, but they had noticed too late; I had broken off the attack as soon as the boys could thought-speak, and Adalynd suddenly had two angry geese attacking her face. She screamed and dropped the gun, which hit the floor with a loud crunch. She tried to swat the huge birds away without much success. The scientist who had been dissecting me had already left the room. Esplin reached for me, probably hoping to be able to use a hostage, but one of the geese – I couldn’t tell who – broke away from Adalynd to break his arm. He screamed.

<We hear fighting!> a familiar voice rang in my head. <Is that you guys?>

<Jake? We’re in a lab! I don’t know where!>

<We can hear you. Stay as close to the middle of the room as you can, okay?>

<You want to know some valuable information about andalites, Esplin?> Marco said mockingly as he bit his nose. <There are seven of us on the team, and only three of us tend to make any kind of caution, restraint or subtlety a part of our plans. Those three? Are the ones in here, the ones _not_ involved in mounting a rescue operation right now. >

With perfect timing, that was when the rhinoceros burst through the wall.

<I can’t see anything,> Jake said. <Did I hurt anyone?>

<When did you get a rhino morph?> I asked.

<About ten minutes ago. The tricky bit was getting through the fence around – >

<I knew it!> This I broadcast publically. <Esplin, you piece of slime! You can’t keep a rhino as a private citizen! They’re endangered!> My tirade probably would have been more effective if I wasn’t being helplessly carried out of the room in an elephant’s trunk as I yelled it. I gave up for the moment and focused on demorphing while Rachel placed me gently behind a bush.

<Esplin?> Ax asked. <A yeerk?> He was in his own body, covering the rear with a shotgun that he was holding wrong.

<Jake, we gotta get out of here,> Marco said. <There are no allies to be found here, everyone is stark raving nuts.>

<Getting out is going to be complicated,> Jake said. <There are actually quite a lot of guards chasing us right now.>

David padded over in lion morph and put his huge mouth over the back of Fenestre’s head. <Now it will be easy.>

Fenestre was crying. Or Esplin was crying. Maybe both. Adalynd was nowhere to be seen. Using Jake’s bulky rhino morph to shield me from Fenestre’s sight, I crawled, half-demorphed, back inside, looking for a place to morph with a bit more cover. There was a big freezer set into the back wall. It would do. I waved Tobias and Marco over and pulled it open.

Turns out I was human enough to be sick. I promptly did so.

The freezer was full of human bodies.

<What the hell?> Tobias whispered. <What the – ?>

<Just demorph,> I said quickly. <We don’t know how long we have left.>

The other Animorphs were waiting patiently for us, Fenestre at the ready to use as a hostage when the guards caught up. Ideally, we should all be in battle morphs by the time they did. The freezer door blocked the other Animorphs’ view of the contents, and I didn’t want Tobias to draw attention to them. Not while we needed to be alert and ready to fight our way out.

I wasn’t confused like Tobias. I’d noticed something about those corpses that told me exactly what I was looking at, and I knew one thing: it was suddenly very important that we got out of there without needing Esplin as a hostage. We needed to get out of there without trading his safety to anyone.

When we got out of that compound, there was no way I was leaving Esplin or Joe-Bob Fenestre alive.


	15. Chapter 15

I morphed leopard as quickly as I could and trotted out of the freezer. <Let’s go,> I said. <Marco’s not quite done, he’ll have to bring up the rear.>

But the guards, of course, were already arriving. A dozen of them, all human, all carrying human shotguns and handguns.

<Guards are here,> Rachel reported, unnecessarily.

<David,> Jake said, <bring our hostage out and be ready to – >

<We don’t need him!> I said. <Nothing those guys have can kill an elephant or a rhino. Everyone get between Rachel and Jake. Use Fenestre as a shield if you have to, but don’t promise anything! Don’t talk to anyone!>

Everyone kind of stared at me for a moment. I realised that it was probably the first time I’d tried to give the team orders. I didn’t have time to argue about it, though; I slipped in between Jake and Rachel. <Are we going or what?>

<Uh… yeah,> Jake said. <That’s a good plan.> He glanced at Ax, who was watching me very carefully with one stalk eye. I ignored him.

We walked out of the building; Jake on the left, Rachel on the right, and up front between them, David with Joe-Bob. I hid behind David’s bulk, Tobias digging his talons into my shoulder, with Ax walking next to me. As we left, a mostly-morphed Marco lumbered into position in the back, dark gorilla fur still spreading over his growing body.

<Whatever happens,> he said, <we have to keep moving. This dude probably has snipers. Don’t stay still for too long.>

Joe-Bob’s guards didn’t seem entirely sure about how to handle the situation. They fired a couple of shots at Rachel, but were reluctant to do anything that might hit their employer. Mostly they just shouted confused questions, ran about, and pointed and screamed at Ax. If I wasn’t so full of seething rage, I might’ve had some contempt for the bunch of incompetents who worked at a compound with big cats and a rhino and didn’t seem to have anything to tranquilize a big cat or a rhino with.

We lumbered on. The ultimate power walk of doom. We were unstoppable.

Until we got to the first outer gate.

“I suppose,” Esplin said, “this is the part where we trade my safety for all of yours, I let you through the gates, and we all pretend this unpleasant affair never happened.”

<No,> I said. <Jake, ram through the gate.>

Esplin laughed. “If you think even a rhinoceros can – ”

<We’ll see. Jake?>

Jake didn’t move.

Marco said, <You open the gates, we let you go, everybody walks away from this.>

“Agreed.”

<No!> I snarled. <Give him nothing! We’ll find another way out!> I leapt for Fenestre, claws outstretched, teeth bared.

Rachel swatted me out of the air with her trunk. Very gently, so as not to crush me, she held me down with one foot.

<Cassie,> she said, <I know you can hear me in there. It’s going to be okay. This will be a painful few days, but we – >

Few days? <You think I’m a controller?!>

<And not a very convincing one at that,> Ax said, disdain in his tone. <Such uncharacteristic behaviour is extremely amateur. Did you truly think that we would be fooled?>

<Do we have to do this right now? I’m not a controller!>

<Oh, sure,> Marco said. <Typical Cassie, snapping off orders, trying to murder hostages, working to get us trapped inside a heavily guarded compound. Yep, that’s totally normal.>

<Marco, you were with me the whole time. There was no point where they could have infested me without you knowing.>

<You weren’t physically within my sight the whole time,> he said. <It would’ve been tricky to pull off, but in theory...>

<Cassie wouldn’t try to tear a helpless hostage’s throat out,> Jake agreed.

<You don’t know what he did!> I practically screamed. <None of you know what he did!> I snarled at Esplin. Even though I was still trapped under Rachel’s foot, he backed away into David. <I know what you did,> I told him. <I know how you survive without access to a Kandrona. I saw what was in the freezer.>

<What was in the freezer?> Rachel asked.

<Bodies,> Tobias said. <This guy doesn’t get along with Visser Three. I figured maybe there was some kind of controller shootout and they hadn’t gotten around to burying – >

<You think that’s what it was? Some random shootout?> I would’ve laughed if I’d been human. <Are you serious? It’s so, so much worse than that.> I kept my gaze fixed on Fenestre. On Esplin. It didn’t matter. Both had to be complicit. <Every three days, yeerks need to feed in the Yeerk Pool,> I said. <A Kandrona emitter is essential to a Yeerk Pool because it stabilises the nutrients that yeerks need every three days. They absorb the nutrients, and enzymes in their body then keep them stable until they’re used. No stable synthetic versions of these nutrients exist, so the twenty four point nine billion dollar question is – how does a yeerk, without a Kandrona emitter to stabilise these nutrients, avoid starving to death?>

Everyone was awkwardly silent for a moment.

<I’ll give a hint. How does a yeerk in that situation avoid starving to death, and also end up with a freezer full of human corpses that – I think my friends might have missed this crucial little detail – have had their skulls opened up and the contents removed?>

The silence was very different this time.

<No,> Tobias whispered.

<Seriously?!> Rachel. <Not… not even a yeerk would...>

<Oh, yes,> I said. <The vitamins he needs are stable in two locations – a Yeerk Pool, and inside another living yeerk. And he doesn’t have access to a Yeerk Pool.>

<He’s Visser Three’s twin,> Marco said, sounding sick. <I think I see the resemblance.>

<Oh, god,> Rachel gasped. <The chat room!>

<A room all set up for people to bumble into the truth and get themselves infested as part of a cover-up,> Jake said. <People nobody would miss. People who have grown to respect and trust Fitey777… who has access to their names and where they live.>

<How many?> I asked Esplin. <One every three days?>

He shook his head. “That schedule would be impossible to maintain. I have… slightly reduced needs, and the nutrients that are not in storage but actually make up part of the yeerk body itself are still – ”

<How many?>

“Perhaps five per month.” He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand this reaction. I expected that you would be pleased to learn that somebody is chipping away at the species you despise so much.”

<And the human hosts?> Rachel asked.

“Well, I have to get the yeerk out somehow.” He looked baffled. “Why does it matter? They’re only humans.”

I tried to leap for his throat again, but Rachel still held me beneath her foot.

“This is all a fascinating conversation, I’m sure,” Esplin said, trying to brush lion spit out of his hair, “but my guards are getting antsy. Unless we all want to end up in another unnecessary battle...”

<Open the gates,> Jake said.

<Jake, no!> I said.

<Cassie, we’re all as mad as you,> Rachel said, <but we need to get out of here and – >

<Has Melissa been on the chat room yet?> I asked her privately. <Does he have her name and address?>

Rachel went quiet.

<We should vote,> I said.

<We’re not going to vote on whether or not to kill a defenseless hostage!> Jake snapped. To Esplin he added, <My control over my troops is limited, yeerk; I suggest you open – >

But the big, heavy gate was already opening, as were the two behind it. Rachel lifted her foot off me. I snarled at Esplin.

And then I turned and followed my friends out of the gate.


	16. Chapter 16

Jake frowned at the notes I’d handed him on Esplin’s compound. We were at the barn. It had been a tense night and flight home; nobody had wanted to talk about what had happened in public, or where Rachel’s dad might hear us. The other Animorphs should be arriving soon, but for the moment, it was just me and Jake.

“Wait,” Jake said, “so this guy invented the oatmeal thing? To get back at his brother?”

I sighed. “That was a side effect, I think. Of the science, you know? It just happened to work in our favour. And kill dozens of people, trap dozens more with yeerks in their heads, drive said yeerks completely insane, not to mention that freezer… why didn’t you let me kill him, Jake?”

“You know why.”

“No, I don’t! It’s war, right? That’s what you and Marco keep telling me. Yeah, I know his actions are coincidentally helping us more than they’re hurting right now, but that’s not going to stay true forever. You have to know he’s going to be a problem eventually. And now he’s ready for us.”

“That’s not why you wanted to kill him, though, is it?”

I hesitated. “It’s why you should’ve wanted to kill him.”

“Cassie,” he said, “if I had stood back and let you kill him, what conversation do you think we’d be having right now?”

I looked away. “Don’t start trying to baby me, Jake.”

He frowned. “When have I ever ‘babied’ you?”

“Well, don’t start. I can make my own decisions.”

“You want me to talk to you like a soldier? Fine. As a soldier, as the leader of this little band, you know what matters the most to me? Living to fight another day. No random yeerk, no small tactical advantage, is more important than getting everyone out in good enough condition to keep on going.”

“We would’ve found another way out.”

“The team might have, Cassie. Would you have, though? Psychologically, I mean. Every time things get bad, you’re always there to pull us back from the brink. You’re always there to make a stand, to help us remember where the line is. Do you know what we were like when we thought you were going to be a caterpillar forever? Or when you were in Australia? It was a mess, a complete mess. If I had let you kill that controller, you wouldn’t have been able to do your job any more. It wasn’t worth the risk. If we could have found another way out of the compound, then we can find another way to save the people in that chat room. Without losing anybody.”

“Is that really why you did it?”

He shrugged. He wouldn’t look at me.

“No tactical advantage would have been worth it,” he said. “Nothing he could’ve done, no sin he could’ve committed, would have been worth you having to go through that.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but Marco was coming in. I didn’t want to talk about this in front of him.

“Hey,” he said, slumping onto a bale of hay.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Y’know.”

“Jake!” Rachel called from somewhere outside. Jake went out to meet her.

Marco waited until we were alone, then handed me a small notebook. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but you asked.”

“I asked what?” I turned the notebook over in my hands. It was the one I’d given him, with notes on things we knew about yeerks and soforth. He’d bookmarked a page; I opened it.

“About why I didn’t want David.”

I skimmed the page. It was a brief description of our first run-in with the ellimist who had sent us to a horrible fake future. Marco reached over and tapped at the page, pointing out a conversation. Visser Three explaining how he’d found us. How he’d taken each of us, killed and ate Tobias.

My stomach churned. “This wasn’t real, though. Didn’t we agree that this was impossible?”

“Some things didn’t make sense. But it’s not impossible for it to be real. And he sent us there to give us clues, like with the EGS tower.”

“We got rid of the Kandrona there,” I said. “Unless they put another one up there for some reason, that future’s impossible. And getting rid of the Kandrona contributed a lot to the oatmeal addiction and we used that to… I just don’t think that future is possible any more. There’s nothing there to be afraid of.”

“That weird future isn’t what bothers me,” Marco said. “The details don’t matter, really. What matters is this conversation.” He tapped the notes again. “This part.”

I read the passage aloud. It was part of Visser Three’s speech. “In your own time, you face a choice. The ellimist has brought you six humans… you five humans and one andalite...”

“Weird slip-up, isn’t it?” Marco asked. “Visser Three knows who Ax is. He’s the only one he knows, except David.”

I frowned. “I don’t get it. There were a lot of weird things about that world.”

“And one of them helped us take down the Kandrona. I think we should be paying a bit more attention to weird things. Now, I’m thinking… we don’t know _when_ , in that world, we were caught. If Visser Three had caught five humans and one andalite, then that would be a weird slip-up. But if, by the time that happened… I mean, I used to just assume that Ax was going to get trapped in morph at some point, but now…”

“You think Ax is going to die,” I said, realisation dawning. “Before… this thing happened, in that other timeline. If it happened at all.”

“Either it happened, or that ellimist put this line here on purpose to warn us,” he said. “Either way, we might’ve taken out that Kandrona, but we don’t know how Ax dies. Or maybe one of us, and Ax also gets stuck in morph. But most likely Ax.”

“Maybe he won’t.” I handed the notebook back. “This is… I mean, we’re reading a lot of stuff into very little data here.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“And none of this is David’s fault.”

“I know. You can see why I didn’t bring any of this up. It’s probably nothing. It’s probably a distraction.”

“Still,” I said.

He nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”

The others slowly filed into the barn, stressed, excited, ready to talk about what our latest adventure meant to the war as a whole. I watched them, counting in my head. Some were in morph, but there were six humans, if you counted Tobias. One andalite.

_< You six humans… you five humans and one andalite…>_

It was probably nothing.


End file.
